XANTIIOXYLUM — PRICKLY ASH. 115 



Medical Proprrfifft and Uses. — Oxalis ia reputed to be useful in scurvy 

 and scorbutic affections generally. As, however, binoxalate of potasli has 

 been shown to act more efficiently and more certainly than the plant, the 

 lattei' may be considered obsolete. An infusion is refrigerant, and may be 

 employed as a cooling drink in febrile allections. 



RUTACE/E. 



Character of the Order. — Herbs, shrubs, or trees, ■with alternate or op- 

 posite, exstipnlato, simple or compound leaves, dotted with pellucid 

 glands, containing aromatic volatile oil. Flowers perfect or unisexual, 

 regular, hypogyuous, 3- to o-merous. Stamens as many or twice as many 

 as the sep.als ; ovary of 2 to 5 cells, distinct or united, each cell 1- to 2- 

 ovuled ; sityles usually coherent ; fruit a ca^Dsule or berry. 



A large and widely distributed order, represented in North America 

 by eight genei'a, two of which, namely, Xauthoxyluui and Ptelea, comprise 

 species of medicinal value. 



XANTHOXYLUJI.— PuRKi.v Asii. 



CJiaracfrr of the dentiH. — Flowers direcious. Hejials i or 5, in one 

 species wanting. Petals 4 or 5, indjricate in the bud. Stamens 4 or 5, in 

 the sterile flowers alternate with the petals. Pistils 2 to 5, distinct, but 

 with styles conniving or more or less united. Carpels sessile or stipitate, 

 2-valved, 1- to 2-seeded. 



Trees or shrubs, with alternate unecpially pinnate leaves, the leaflets 

 punctate with pellucid dots ; stems and leaf-stalks commonly armed with 

 prickles. Flowei's small, greenish. 



Xanthoxyliim Americanum Miller (A', fraxineum Willdenow). — 

 Northern Pricliy Ash, IhothacJie Tree. 



Description. — Calyx absent. Corolla : jietals .'5. Pistils 3 to 5, dis- 

 tinct ; styles slender. Capsules stipitate, dotted, varying from green to 

 red, 2-valved, 1-seeded. 



A shrub, 5 to 10 feet high. Leaflets in about 5 jDairs, with an odd ter- 

 minal one, nearly sessile, ovate, acute, slightly serrate, somewhat downy 

 underneath. Both leaves and flowers in axillary clusters, the latter ap- 

 pearing in Ai:)ril or May, before the former are expanded. 



Habitat. — In rocky woods and on river banks from Virginia northward 

 and westward ; not common east of the Hudson River. 



Xanthoxylum clava Herculis Linur (A'^ CaroHnianum Lam). — 

 Soutliern Prickly Ash, Toothache Tree. 



Descriptior. — Calyx: sepals 5. Corolla: petals 5. Pistils 3; styles 

 short. Capsules 3, nearly sessile. 



A small tree, with branches armed with long sharji prickles. Leaflets 



