DOGWOOD FAMILY. 205 



* * Smaller; short stems scarcely woody at base; few umbels; flowers 

 early summer. 



A. hispida, Vent. Bristly Sarsaparilla. Rocky places ; bristly 

 stems l°-2° high, leafy below, naked and bearing corymbed umbels 

 above ; leaves twice pinnate, the leaflets oblong-ovate and cut-toothed. 



A. nudicaulis, Linn. Common Wild S. Low ground ; the aromatic, 

 horizontal, slender roots running 3°-5° long, used as a substitute for offi- 

 cinal Sarsaparilla ; the smooth, proper stem rising only 2'-4', bearing a 

 single long-stalked leaf of 5 ovate or oval serrate leaflets on each of the 3 

 divisions of the petiole, and a short peduncle with 2-7 umbels. 



§ 2. Ginseng. Sterile and fertile flowers usually on separate simple- 

 stemmed plants, in a single slender-stalked umbel, below it a single 

 whorl of digitate leaves; styles and cells of the fruit 2 or 3. 



A. quinquefblia, Dec. & Planch. Ginseng. Boot spindle-shaped, 

 warm-aromatic, 4'-9' long ; stem 1° high ; leaflets 5 at the end of each 

 of the 3 petioles, slender-stalked, thin, obovate-oblong, pointed, serrate ; 

 flowers in summer ; fruit red. Bich woods ST. Also cult. Medicinal. 



A. trifdlia, Dec. & Planch. Dwarf G. or Groundnut. Low woods, 

 N. ; 4'-8' high, from a deep, globular, pungent-tasted root ; leaflets 3 or 

 sometimes 6 sessile on the end of each of the 3 petioles, narrow-oblong 

 and obtuse ;■ flowers in spring ; fruit orange-yellow. 



2. HEDERA, IVY. (The ancient Latin name.) Flowers late summer. 



H. Helix, Linn. Trde or English Ivt. Woody climber, with ever- 

 green, glossy, rounded heart-shaped or kidney-shaped and 3-lobed or 3- 

 angled, often variegated leaves, or in some varieties more deeply 3-7-cleft, 

 yellowish-green flowers, and blackish berries ; covers shaded walls, etc., 

 adhering by its rootlets, but scarcely hardy N. Eu. 



LVI. CORNACE-ffi, DOGWOOD FAMILY. 



Shrubs, trees, or one or two mere herbs, with simple, leaves, 

 small, often imperfect flowers, calyx tube in the perfect or pis- 

 tillate ones coherent with the surface of the 1-2-celled ovary, 

 which is crowned with the small calyx teeth or minute cup, 

 bearing the petals (valvate in the bud), and stamens of the 

 same number ; style and stigma single ; ovule and seed solitary 

 in the cells, hanging from the summit; fruit a. small drupe 

 or berry. Petals sometimes 0. 



* Flowers perfect, in cymes, close clusters, or heads. 



1. COENtJS. Minute teeth of the calyx, petals, and stamens 4. Style slender ; stigma ter- 

 minal. Berry-like little drupe with a 2-ceIled, 2>seeded stone. Leaves entire, opposite 

 except in one species, deciduous. Bark very bitter, tonic. Flower cluster often 

 subtended by a corolla-like involucre. 



* * Flowers polygamous or dioecious, in axillary clusters or solitary. 



1. AT/CUBA. Flowers dioecious, dull purple. Teeth or lobes of the calyx and petals 4. 

 Stamens in the sterile flowers 4, with short filaments and oblong anthers. Fertile 

 flowers with a 1-celled ovary, becoming an oblong, red berry in fruit ; style short ; 

 stigma capitate. Leaves opposite, coriaceous and glossy, evergreen, smooth, more or 

 less toothed. 



