ARALIACEiE. 



339 



2. MYRIOPHYLLUM L. 



Leaves alternate, or (in ours) whorled, the emersed ones entire or 

 pectinate, those under water pinnately divided into capillary divi- 

 sions. Flowers sessile in the axils of the upper leaves or forming a 

 terminal interrupted spike. Upper flowers generally staminate, the 

 lowest pistillate, and the intermediate often perfect. Calyx of the 

 pistillate flowers 4-toothed or the teeth none, of the staminate 4-lohed. 

 Petals 2 to 4, or none. Stamens 4 or 8. Stigmas 4, recurved and 

 plumose. Fruit splitting at maturity into 4 bony 1-seeded nutlets. 

 (Greek murios, a thousand, and phullon, a leaf.) 



Flowers in a terminal interrupted spike 1. M. spicatum. 



Flowers in the axils of the emersed linear leaves 2. M. hippurioides. 



1. M. spicatum L. Water-Milfoil. Stems branching, 1. to 2 

 ft. long; leaves in whorls of 3 or 4, dissected into capillary divisions; 

 floral leaves or bracts ovate, entire or serrate and usually shorter than 

 the flowers, which thus form an interrupted spike 1 to 4 in. long; 

 petals 4; stamens 8; fruit 1 line long, and fully as thick; carpels 

 rounded on the back with a deep groove between them. 



Lakes and ponds: San Francisco Peninsula; Camp Taylor, Behr. 

 July-Aug. 



2. M. hippurioides Nutt. Leaves in whorls of 4; emersed ones 

 linear, serrate or the uppermost nearly entire, 3 to 5 lines long; sub- 

 mersed ones dissected into capillary divisions, 1 to \\ in. long; flowers 

 chiefly in the axils of the emersed leaves; petals white, obovate; 

 stamens 4; carpels less rounded. 



Clear Lake, A. B. Simonds; Stockton, Sanford. 



71. ARALIACE>£. Aralia Family. 



Commonly shrubs or trees, but ours herbs. Very closely allied to 

 Umbelliferge, but the stems solid, the petals not inflexed and the 

 styles and carpels (in ours) more than two. Flowers 5-merous except 

 the pistil. Calyx-tube coherent with the ovary; its limb obsolete. 

 Ovary 2 to 5-celled. Fruit berry-like, containing as many 1 -seeded 

 nuts as there are carpels. The cultivated Ivy, Hcdera helix, belongs 

 to this family and climbs by its adventitious roots. 



1. ARALIA L. 



Perennial herbs with alternate compound leaves. Ovary 2 to 

 5-celled. Embryo minute. (Derivation uncertain.) 



1. A. Californica Wats. Ginseng. Rootstock with milky juice, 

 3 in. in diameter or less, giving off below numerous tap-like roots i to 

 1£ ft. long, bearing above the deep circular scars of successive genera- 

 tions of stems, and terminating at one end in the stem of the season; 

 plant 6 to 10 ft. high; herbage glabrous or subulate-scabrous on the 

 main stem; leaves ternate, then pinnately 3 to 5-foliate, 1 to 5 ft. 

 long; leaflets elliptic or round-ovate, serrate, acuminate, subcordate 

 at base, £ to 1 ft. long; flowers on pedicels £ in. long, 50 to 60 in an 



