Am.  Jour.  Pharm.\ 
October,  1897.  J 
Aralia  Nudicaulis. 
535 
ours  were  gathered  near  New  York.  Bastin,  for  instance,  says  that 
the  rhizome  will  reach  a  length  of  from  3  to  5  feet,  and  Gray,  in 
his  text-books,  makes  the  same  statement,  while  we  have  hardly 
found  any  rhizome  shorter  than  5  feet,  and  have  a  specimen  here  of 
29  feet.  The  description  of  the  leaves  also  shows  some  points  of 
difference,  the  leaves  of  our  specimens  being  more  divided  than  the 
ones  that  Bastin  describes.  This  latter  observation  was  also  made 
by  Professor  A.  C.  Apgar,  who  proposed  the  name  of  Aralia  nudi- 
caulis prolifera  (Bull.  Torr.  Bot.  CI.,  14:  166,  1887)  for  the  species 
found  in  New  Jersey,  while  Professor  N.  Britton,  in  his  "  Illustrated 
Flora,"  calls  this  kind  "  a  mere  form." 
BOTANY. 
Aralia  nudicaidis  belongs  to  the  order  Araliaceae,  and  shares  with 
the  other  members  of  the  order  the  warm,  aromatic,  almost  pun- 
gent, taste  of  some  parts,  principally  the  rhizome.  Early  in  the 
spring  a  petiole  and  a  scape  grow  near  each  other  from  the  rhizome, 
which  lies  from  1  to  4  inches  under  the  ground,  and  only  rises 
occasionally  a  little  above  the  soil.  The  straight  petiole,  swollen  at 
the  base,  rises  from  8  to  18  inches  high  and  divides  into  three 
Fig.  1. — Corky  layer  of  old  bark,  cross-section. 
divisions,  which  at  this  point  of  divergence  thicken  like  the  base  of 
the  main  petiole  ;  each  division  bears  a  compound  leaf  of  from  three 
to  five  leaflets.  Occasionally  one  of  the  lower  leaflets  is  again  com- 
pound. The  leaflets  are  from  2  to  5  inches  long,  and  from  I  to  2]/2 
inches  wide,  pinnate  with  one  terminal  one,  the  lower  pair  on  short 
petioles,  the  upper  one  mostly  sessile,  oblong-ovate,  one  of  the 
lower  ones  occasionally  almost  round,  acuminate,  finely  serrate, 
smooth  on  both  surfaces.  The  scape  is  a  few  inches  shorter  than 
the  petiole,  and  therefore,  together  with  the  flower,  or  later,  the 
fruit,  hidden  under  the  spreading  leaves.  It  has  neither  leaf  nor 
bract,  hence  the  name  nudicaulis,  and  bears  from  three  to  seven 
