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Dicotyledons with Polypetalous Flowers . 
Natural Order 
ARALIACEiE. 
Diagnosis.- -Generally agreeing with Umbelliferae, differing, not in any 
absolute character, but usually either in having a woody stem, or more 
numerous cells in the ovary, or a berried fruit. 
Distribution. —A small Natural Order, chiefly Tropical, though with several outlying represent¬ 
atives in both the North and South Temperate zone, especially in Eastern Temperate Asia. Ivy 
(Hedera Helix) is the only European representative of the Order. 
One British Genus ; Species, i . 
Ovary 5-celled, ovules solitary in Ivy. 
Seeds with ruminated albumen and inclosed in a membranous layer of the pericarp in Ivy. 
USES, &c.—Rice-paper is prepared from the copious white pith of a small Formosan tree {Fatsia papyriferce). 
Ginseng, the dried root of a Panccx growing in North China or Mantchuria, is in great repute in China as a re¬ 
storative medicine, though destitute of any important properties: Besides Ivy, of which there are several cultivated 
varieties, a few exotic species of Aralia are grown for the sake of their picturesque habit. 
