Am.  Jour.  Pharir.  ) 
May,  1879.  J 
A r alia  Papyrifera. 
241 
ARALIA  PAPYRIFERA,  Hooker. 
Philadelphia,  April  14th,  1879. 
Editor  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy. 
In  the  article  on  Aralia,  by  Thomas  Moore,  in  the  "  Treasury  of 
Botany,"  is  the  following  account  of  the  rice  paper  plant :  "The  rice 
paper  plant  of  China  has  been  referred  to  this  genus  by  Sir  W.  J. 
Hooker,  under  the  name  of  A.  papyrifera.  This  plant  grows  in  the 
deep  swampy  forests  of  the  Island  of  Formosa,  and  apparently  there 
only,  forming  a  small  tree,  branching  in  the  upper  part,  the  younger 
portions  of  the  stem,  together  with  the  leaves,  covered  with  copious 
yellow  down.  The  full-grown  leaves  are  sometimes  a  foot  long, 
cordate,  five  to  seven-lobed,  of  a  soft  and  flaccid  texture.  The  panicles 
of  flowers  come  from  the  extremeties  of  the  stem  and  branches,  rising 
above  them,  and  then  becoming  pendulous,  one  to  three  feet  long,  bear- 
ing numerous  capitate  umbels  of  small  greenish  flowers.  The  stems 
are  filled  with  pith  of  very  fine  texture,  and  white  as  snow,  which  when 
cut,  forms  the  article  known  as  rice  paper." 
The  results  of  the  investigations  of  Dr.  Hooker,  in  regard  to  this 
subject,  are  recorded  in  his  "  Journal  of  Botany  "  in  the  volumes  for 
1850,  p.  27;  1852,  pp.  50  and  347  ;  1.853,  p.  79>  and  l855>  P-  280. 
The  volume  for  1852  contains  a  plate  giving  representations  of  the  leaf, 
root  and  stem,  with  the  cylinders  of  pith  entire,  and  cut  vertically  to 
exhibit  the  septa.  The  writer  states  that  "  The  root  is  thick  and  fusi- 
form, slightly  divided,  equally  woody  with  the  stem.  Our  representa- 
tion of  that  is  taken  from  the  lower  part  of  a  dead  plant,  cut  through 
transversely  and  vertically.  Our  larger  stems  exhibit  the  same  charac- 
ters. A  section  exhibits  a  moderately  thick  bark,  a  thicker  circle  of 
pale  wood  ;  within,  the  tube  is  occupied  by  the  white  pith  descending 
to  the  root.  In  the  thicker  stems  the  pith  readily  separates  from  the 
wood,  with  a  rather  rusty  colored  furrowed  coat,  which  seems  to  take 
this  character  from  so  many  ridges  on  the  inside  of  the  wood.  Among 
our  numerous  samples  of  the  pith,  freed  from  the  external  coating,  and 
cut  into  perfect  cylinders,  some  are  uniform  or  solid,  while  others  are 
furnished  with  cavities,  divided  into  compartments  by  entire  or  more  or 
less  ragged  septa.  The  comparatively  high  cost  of  the  large  sheets 
proves  that  the  pith  does  not  in  general  attain  a  great  diameter.  The 
largest  specimens  of  the  pith  sent  to  the  Kew  Museum  measured  twenty- 
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