646 



MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



Families of UmbEllales 



Fruit a drupe or berry. 



Flowers umbellate ; stamens S Araliaceae 



Flowers not umbellate ; stamens 4 Comaceae 



Fruit dry splitting into 2 mericarps Umbelliferae 



Araliaceae. Gingseng Family. 



Herbs, shrubs or rarely trees; leaves alternate or whorled; flowers in um- 

 bels, heads or panicles; calyx tube adherent to the ovary; usually S petals in- 

 serted on the calyx; stamens as many as the petals, inserted on the disk; ovary 

 1 or more celled, 1 ovule in each cell ; fruit a several-celled drupe. 



About 50 genera and 4S0 species, of wide distribution. Genera common to 

 eastern North America, China and Japan. Some of the species are occasionally 

 cultivated for ornamental purposes. One of the best known of these is the 

 Hercules Club (_patsia horrida), native from Florida west to Missouri and 

 Texas, and the common European ivy {Hedera Helix) well known in cultiva- 

 tion. 



Few of the Araliaceae have injurious properties, however, the prickly spines 

 of Fatsia horrida of the Pacific Coast, are quite irritating. 



Several species of the genus Aralia and Panax are used in medicine. The 



"^^5^' 



Fig. 367. Ginseng. (Aiter Faguet.) 



