GINSENG FAMILY. Araliaceae. 



GINSENG FAMILY. Araliacece. 



Generally herbs in our range, with compound, mostly 

 alternate leaves and tiny five-petaled flowers in crowded 

 clusters ; stamens five, alternate with the petals ; the 

 flowers perfect or more or less polygamous ; staminate 

 and pistillate flowers occurring on the same plant. 

 Fruit a cluster of berries, which with the root, bark, etc., 

 ai'e slightly aromatic. Visited by numerous woodland 

 insects as well as the bees of the genus Halictus, and oc- 

 casionally by butterflies. 



A tall, branching, smooth woodland 

 Aralia herb, with a round, blackish stem, and 



racemosa large compound leaves of generally 15-21 



Green-white ovate leaflets, heart-shaped at the base, 

 July-August fl ne iy double-toothed, and deep green with 

 brownish stems. The greenish white flowers are ar- 

 ranged in small round clusters which in the aggregate 

 form a large, terminal, pointed spike, or perhaps several 

 smaller spikes from the base of the leaves. Visited by 

 the bees of the genus Halictus, and the beelike flies 

 (Syrphidce). Fruit a round dull brown-crimson berry (in 

 compact clusters) sometimes, when over-ripe dull 

 brown-purple. The large roots are esteemed for their 

 spicy and aromatic flavor. 8-5 feet high. Rich wood- 

 lands from Me., south through the mountains to Ga., 

 and west to Minn., S. Dak., and Mo. 



A characteristically fine-hairy plant, 



with similar leaves generally hairy on the 

 Wild Elder veins beneath and irregularly double- 

 Aralia hinpida toothed ; they are perhaps longer and 

 Dull white more pointed than those of Aralia race- 

 ju" C Carly m osa, and rounded at the base. The tiny 



dull white flowers are arranged in some- 

 what hemispherical clusters, several of which crown the 

 summit of the stem. The fruit is somewhat oblate-sphe- 

 roidal in shape and dull brown-crimson when ripe. 12- 

 34 inches high. In rocky woods, from Me., south to N. 

 G., through the mountains, and west to Minn, and 111. 

 Found in Campton, N. H. 



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