Aralia. ARALIACE-E. 273 



ends of the stem and branches, subtended by 2 or more foliaeeous dissected bracts, 

 3 - 6-rayed ; rays slender, 1 to 3 inches long ; umbellets few-flowered, with unequal 

 pedicels ; involucels of short entire bracts, rarely more foliaeeous and divided : fruit 

 oblong-oval, 2 lines long, armed with rows of hooked prickles : seed deeply chan- 

 nelled. — Bot. Beechey, 348. 



Dry hillsides, Sacramento Valley. Of reputed efficacy, applied in poultice, as a remedy for the 

 bite of rattlesnakes. This plant is peculiar in habit, but has a seed similar to that of several of 

 the species of Caucalis. It has been referred to Daucus brachiatus of Australia, which however 

 has the prickles always barbed and is a true Daucus. 



Order XLYI. ARALIACE.ZE. 



Like Umbelliferce, but the umbels not regularly compound, stems apt to be woody. 



petals imbricated in the bud, styles and carpels more than two, and the fruit fleshy 



(berrydike or drupaceous). 



A rather large order in the wann parts of the world, represented in Europe and in cultivation 

 by the Ivy, and in North America and Northern Asia mainly by the following genus. 



1. ARALIA, Linn. Spikenard. 



Calyx 5-toothed or entire. Petals 5, ovate, slightly imbricate. Stamens 5. 



J'isk depressed or rarely conical. Ovary 2-5-celled: styles free or connate at 



base, at length divaricate : stigmas terminal. Fruit laterally compressed, becoming 



3 - 5-angled, fleshy externally ; endocarp chartaceous. — Perennial herbs or shrubs ; 



leaves alternate, digitate or compound, with serrate leaflets : umbels mostly simple, 



solitary, racemed, or panicled ; pedicels jointed ; bracts small 



About 30 species, of which 8 belong to North America, chiefly east of the Rock; Mountains, 

 the remainder to Eastern Asia. Probably the only California!! representative of the order is the 

 following species. 



1. A. Californica, Watson. Herbaceous, unarmed and nearly glabrous, 8 to 

 10 feet high, from a large thick root : leaves bipinnate, or the upper pinnate with 1 

 or 2 pairs of leaflets, which are cordate-ovate, 4 to 8 inches long or more, shortly 

 acuminate, simply or doubly serrate with short acute teeth ; uppermost leaves ovate- 

 lanceolate : umbels in loose terminal and axillary compound or simple racemose 

 panicles, which are a foot or two long and more or less glandular- tomentose; rays 

 numerous, 4 to 6 liii'~ lm_ : involucres of several linear bractlets: flowers 1 .'. to -' 

 lines lung ; disk and stylopodium obsolete ; styles united to the middle : fruit (im- 

 mature) li lines long. — Proc. Am. Acad. xi. 144. 



In shaded mountain ravines and moist places; Gavilan Mountains (firm; r) ; II. .lin:i~ I'.". 

 (Bigelow) \ Sierra County, Lemmon.. Much resembling the eastern ./. racemosa, but differing in 

 its much greater size, fewer umbels, larger and with mora numerous rays, and larger Rowers and 



involucres. It has not 1 n collected in mature fruit. ./. humilis, of Mexico and New Mi \i ... 



is distinguished especially by its large pulvinate stylopodium. 



A. 9PIN0SA, another eastern species, known as Her. ales' I lub, has become somewhat common 

 in cultivation. 



Faisi.v noRMTM, Benth. & H"..k. (23 ue, Decaisne & Planch.), is reported in Ho.ik. 



Fl. as having l>ecn collected in California by Douglas. It is frequent in shady firw Is in the 



1 i ide ml (.'on i Ranges, from the Columbia northward to Sitka, and also extends southward 

 in the ( 'east Range, but it is doubtful as belonging to tin- State. It has a stout woody atem ' ; to 

 12 feet long, creeping at I™ ,-. leafy at the summit, and very prickly throughout, making tli 

 ests in places almost impassable; the very large leaves palmately lobed, and the capitate umbels 

 in a long raceme. The genus is distinguished by valvule petals, 2 S-celled fruit, pedicels Dot 

 jointed, and palmatifid leaves. 



Hi m u.v Helix, the European Ivy, is very frequently cultivated, and near the coast i- oh 

 hall wild. 



