*£»NTAND!MA DIGVNIA l$t 



3. Of art interior: Corolla penla/)etalous: Flowehsix umbels.* 

 St* Umbels simple. -j- Fruit succulent, or caruose. 



13*. PANAX./,. jVutt. Gen. 264. 

 -f.Gr. P<W> aH, & AAtfSj a remedy ; an imaginary panacea, or universal medicine^ 



DioiCOUSLY Polygamous: Stamivatk Fl. Calyx small, turbinate; 

 limb nearly entire. Perfect Fl. Calyx adnata to the ovary, with the 

 limb short, obsoletely 6-toothed. Petals alternate with the teeth of 

 the calyx. Stamens inserted under the margin of the epigynous disk, 

 alternating with the petals. Stifles 2 or 3 (rarely 1). Fruit a fleshy, or 

 gubcoriaceous berry, 2 or 3-celled ; cells 1-seeded. 



I[erburco>ts,or fruiicose: stem of the herbaceous species simple, terminating 

 verticiilately in three compound leaves, with a solitary central pedunculate um- 

 ticl • Nat. Ord. L. Lindl. Abaliacba. 



1. P. atMvauEFOLirH, L. Root fusiform, subramose ; leaflets quinate- 

 digitate, obovate, acuminate, petiolate ; peduncle of the umbel rather 

 shorter than the common petioles ; styles 2 ; fruit succulent, 2-sccded. 

 Beck, But. p. 152. 

 Fivk-lkavei) Panax. Vulgo — Ginseng. 



* The plants of this division, with the exception of Panax (ami even that isvery 

 nearly related), constitute a perfectly natural assemblage. Nat. Ord. 2. Lindl. U»- 

 ■eli.ifkk^. Thev are mostly herbaceous \ the stems fistular, and ofien furrowed; 

 the leaves alternate, sometimes simj le, but generally compound, or much dissect- 

 ed,-— with the petioles dilated and sheathing at base; the/Wr/w arranged in um- 

 bels, or on numerous footstalks which arise from a common centre, like the rays 

 of an umbrella. These umbels are either simple, or compound. In the simple urn- 

 bel, each ray, or footstalk, supports and terminates in a single flower ; — whereas, 

 in the compound umbel, each primary ray sustains a small secondary umbel atits 

 summit. The primary divisions of a compound umbel constitute what has been 

 called the universal umbel, and the secondary divisions have been denominated 

 \hc partial umbels; or they maybe distinguished by the simple terms of umbel, and 

 umbellets. At the base of each, is frequently a verticil of loaves, or bracts, called 

 in involucre ; formerly designated by the names of universal and partial involn- 

 cres. For convenient distinction, the bracts at the base of the universal umbel 

 are now simply termed involucre ; and those at the base of the partial umbels, or 

 umbellets, are called (nvolucels. Kach flower has the calyx superior (or rather 

 the tube is adnate to the ovary), 5-toothed, or entire ; petals 5, alternate with the 

 teeth of the calyx, and inserted on the outside of a fleshy disk which crowns the 

 ovary ; stamens 7*, alternate with the petals, and consequently opposite the teeth 

 •fthe calyx ; styles 2, distinct, simple, often persistent, and finally more or less 

 diverging ; fruit consisting of 2 single-seeded indehiscent carpels {meriearpia, 2X7.) 

 eventually separating, each with its style, from a common axis, or slender bipar- 

 tite central column (rarpophorut/u DC$, to winch they adhere by their face, or 

 commissure, near the apex, and are for a time suspended. Kach carpel is marked 

 longitudinally by ribs, or ridges; of which there are 5 more or less conspicuous, 

 called pri mary .—and sometimes 4 others, alternating with them, which are called 

 secondary. The ribs are separated by channels, or interstices, below which, with- 

 in the coat of the carpels, arc often linear receptacles of aromatic colored oily 

 matter, called vittm, or fillets. These ribs and mttee, together with the form, or 

 manser of compression, of the fruit, afford important aid in determining the gen 

 e^rie character of the umbelliferous plants,— a point which is apt to be somewhat 

 dlffyrtiUin all highly natural crfwpes. 



16 



