PLATE DXCV. 



PANAX FRUTI 



M 



Shrubby Panax. 



% 



CLASS XXIII 



ORDER II 



POLYGAMIA DICECIA. Flowers Male, Female, and Hermaphrodite on 



different Plants* 



ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Hermaphroditus. Umbella. Calyx 5-den- 

 tatus, superus. Corolla 5-petala. Stamina 

 5. Styli 2 vol 3, saepe cohaerentes. Bacca 

 2- vel 3-sperma, infera. 



. The male or female 



Hermaphrodite. An umbel. Cup 5-toothed, 

 above. ' Blossom 5-petalled. Stamens 5. 

 Shafts 2 or3, sometimes cohering. Berry 

 2- or 5-seeded, below. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 



Panax foliis supradecompositis, dentato-ciliatis ; 

 caule fruticoso, Willd. Sp. PL 



Panax with leaves more than doubly compound, 

 ciliated with little teeth ; the stem shrubby. 



REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 



1. Empalement, chives, and pointals. 



2. The pointals. 



3. The plant in miniature. 







On examining the flowers of this curious and rare species of Panax, we were a little startled to find 

 bow widely they differed from the character of the genus -, being trigynous, and the berry three-seeded. 

 Professor Jacquin has alio observed the same variation in the flowers of P. aculeatum (see his Icones, 

 tab. 63 4); and fifty years ago Trew observed and delineated the same number of styles in Panax tri fo- 

 lium, one of the original species upon which the genus was established. Nor had this escaped the 

 scrutinizing eye of that profound observer of nature Bernard Jussieu. From these authorities, there- 

 fore, in consonance with our own observations, we have enlarged the character of the genus to include 

 the species. Panax fruticosum, as we learn from Rumphius's Herbarium Amboinense, vol. iv. p. 78 

 and 7g, rises to between five and six feet in height, with a stem as thick- as a man's arm, and grows 

 naturally in the Island of Ternate, where it is also much cultivated by the natives for food, medicine, 

 and ceconomy ; being planted to separate the areas of their gardens and mark the boundaries of their 

 fields. The boiled leaves are eaten as greens, and a decoction both of the leaves and root is used suc- 

 cessfully in nephritic diseases, for which they also sometimes prescribe the roots to be eaten raw. The 

 fame of the plant as a powerful diuretic is also great in Amboyna $ where, as well as in Ternate, 

 it is commonly planted both for ornament and use. Labillardiere, the French botanist, who accom- 

 panied the expedition that sailed in quest of the unfortunate Lapeyrouse, informs us (in his accouni of 

 the voyage) that when at Araboyna he found this plant encircling the tomb of the venerable Rum- 



phius, its first describer. 



Nature he loved ; with her he spent his hours : 

 The grateful goddess wreathes his tomb with flc 



The famous Ginseng, to which the Chinese attribute such extraordinary virtues, and which, as Os- 

 beck informs us, was commonly sold in their shops in 1751 (see his Travels, English edit p 222) for 

 from 30 to 40 times its weight in silver, and which one of their Emperors, 40 years before that, sent 

 10,000 1 artars in quest of at once, is said by that author to be a species of Panax ; but the plant is 

 yet unknown in Europe. Panax fruticosum, we are informed, was introduced to this country about 

 they ir 1800, and requires to be kept in the hot- house. ~* 



Boy ton by A. B. Lambert, esq. 



The specimen was communicated from 



