116 RUTACE M. 



in 3 to 5 pairs and an odd terminal one, ovate-lanceolate, crenate-serru- 

 late, oblique, shining above. Flowers in a terminal cyme, appearing in 

 June after the leaves are expanded. 



Habitat. — In dry soil near the coast, from Florida to North Carolina 

 and westward. 



Part Used. — The bark of both species — United States Pharmacopoeia. 

 The fruit is also used to some extent, but is not official. 



Constituents. — Prickly ash has a taste which is at first aromatic, then 

 bitter, and finally persistently acrid. It contains volatile and fixed oils, 

 resin, gum, coloring matter, and berberine, the latter being probably its 

 most important constituent. 



Preparations. — Extractum xanthoxyli fluidum — fluid extract of xanthox- 

 ylum. — United States Pharmacopoeia. It yields its virtues readily to boil- 

 ing water and to alcohol, and may therefore be administered in decoction 

 or tincture. The fruit is used in like manner. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — Prickly ash is stimulant and diapho- 

 retic, and has long enjoyed a certain degree of popularity as a remedy for 

 chronic rheumatism. It powerfully stimulates secretion from mucous sur- 

 faces, causes a sensation of warmth in the stomach, and undoubtedly exerts 

 an eliminant influence. Hence it has been used with benefit in constitu- 

 tional syphilis. As a tonic it is manifestly inferior to its alkaloid, ber- 

 berine, but as an alterative and eliminant much superior. It is employed 

 topically in domestic practice as a remedy for toothache and as a counter- 

 irritant, and has been recommended as a local application in chronic 

 pharyngitis characterized by dryness of the mucous membrane. 



PTELEA.— Shrubby Trefoil. 



Ptelea trifoliata Linne. — Shrubby Trefoil, Plop Tree. 



Description. — Calyx : sepals 3 to 5, small. Corolla : petals 3 to 5, im- 

 bricated in the bud, much longer than the sepals. Stamens 3 to 5, alter- 

 nate with the petals ; filaments densely villous below the middle, longer 

 than the style in the sterile flowers, shorter in the fertile ones. Ovary 

 2 -celled, each cell 2-ovuled ; styles short or absent ; stigma 2-lobed. Fruit 

 an orbicular samara, 2-celled, 2-seeded, nearly one inch in diameter. 



An unarmed shrub, 8 to 12 feet high. Leaves trifoliate, on petioles 

 about 2 inches long ; leaflets 2 to 4 inches long, oval or oblong, mostly 

 acute, obscurely crenate-serrate, the lateral ones somewhat oblique, pubes- 

 cent when young. Flowers polygamous, small, greenish-white, in com- 

 pound terminal cymes, appearing in May and June, and having a disagree- 

 able odor. 



Habitat. — In rocky places from Pennsylvania to Florida and west- 

 ward. 



Parts Used. — The fruit, leaves, and bark of the root — not official. 



