CHAPTER II. 



EAELY-FLOWEEING SHEUBS. 



On the banks of the stream along which the road 

 follows appear, in April or May, inconspicuous clus- 

 ters of greenish flowers on the yet leafless, brown, 

 prickly branchlets of the toothache tree {Xanthox- 

 ylum Amerioanuni). This is a shrub from four to 

 twelve feet high, bearing compound leaves of from 

 five to nine leaflets (usually seven), which are almost 

 if not entirely without teeth, downy when young, but 

 growing smooth. All parts of the tree are pungent 

 and aromatic ; if the leaves are crushed they yield a 

 strong lemonlike * odor ; this is also very strong in 

 the fleshy fruit, which is about the size and shape of 

 peppercorns. The toothache tree is frequently seen 

 in cultivation ; it is supposed to furnish an excellent 

 remedy for toothache and neuralgia. 



A near relative of the toothache tree, the three- 

 leaved hop tree {Ptelea trifoliata\ will be found on 



* An odor similar to that of the lemon verbena. 

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