Division I. POLYPETALOUS EXOGENOUS PLANTS. (continued 6)

6. H. Asiática, L. Petioles and peduncles (1–2´ long) clustered on creeping stems or runners; leaves ovate-cordate, repand-toothed, thickish; seed-section narrowly oblong. (H. repanda, Pers.)—Md. to Fla. and Tex. (Widely distributed in the tropics and southern hemisphere.)

35. ERÝNGIUM, Tourn. Eryngo.

Calyx-teeth prominent, rigid and persistent. Styles slender. Fruit ovate or obovate, covered with little hyaline scales or tubercles, with no ribs, and usually 5 slender oil-tubes on each carpel.—Chiefly perennials, with coriaceous, toothed, cut, or prickly leaves, and blue or white bracted flowers closely sessile in dense heads. (A name used by Dioscorides, of uncertain origin.)

[*] Stout, with parallel-veined elongated linear thick leaves.

1. E. yuccæfòlium, Michx. (Rattlesnake-Master. Button Snake-root.) Branching above, 1–6° high; leaves rigid, tapering to a point (lower sometimes 2–3° long), the margins remotely bristly; heads ovate-globose (9´´ long), with ovate-lanceolate mostly entire cuspidate-tipped bracts shorter than the head, and similar bractlets.—Dry or damp soil, N. J. to Minn., south to Fla. and Tex. July–Sept.

[*][*] Tall and often stout; leaves thick, not parallel-veined.

2. E. Virginiànum, Lam. Slender (1–3° high); radical and lower stem-leaves linear- to oblong-lanceolate, on long (sometimes 1° long) fistulous petioles, entire or with small hooked teeth; upper leaves sessile, spiny-toothed or laciniate; heads ovate-oblong (6´´ long), with spiny-toothed or entire reflexed bracts, and bractlets with 3 spiny cusps (the middle one largest).—Margins of ponds and streams, N. J. to Fla. and Tex., near the coast. Aug., Sept.

3. E. Leavenwórthii, Torr. & Gray. Stout (1–3° high); lowest stem-leaves broadly oblanceolate, spinosely toothed, the rest sessile and deeply palmately-parted into narrow incisely-pinnatifid spreading pungent segments; heads ovate-oblong (1–1½´ long), with pinnatifid spinose bracts and 3–7-cuspidate bractlets, the terminal ones very prominent and resembling the bracts.—Dry soil, E. Kan., Ark., and Tex.

[*][*][*] Prostrate and slender, rooting at the joints, diffusely branched, with small thin unarmed leaves and very small heads.

4. E. prostràtum, Nutt. Lower leaves oblong, entire, few-toothed, or lobed at base; upper leaves smaller, clustered at the rooting joints, ovate, few-toothed or entire (occasionally some additional trifid ones); reflexed bracts longer than the oblong heads (2–4´´ long).—Wet places, S. Mo. to Fla. and Tex.

36. SANÍCULA, Tourn. Sanicle. Black Snakeroot.

Calyx-teeth manifest, persistent. Fruit globular; the carpels not separating spontaneously, ribless, thickly clothed with hooked prickles, each with 5 oil-tubes.—Perennial rather tall glabrous herbs, with few palmately-lobed or parted leaves, those from the root long-petioled. Umbels irregular or compound, the flowers (greenish or yellowish) capitate in the umbellets, perfect, and with staminate ones intermixed. Involucre and involucels few-leaved. (Name said to be from sano, to heal; or perhaps from San Nicolas.)

1. S. Marylándica, L. Stem 1–3° high; leaves 3–7-parted, the divisions mostly sharply cut and serrate; sterile flowers numerous and long-pedicelled; fruit 1½–2´´ long, the styles longer than the prickles.—Throughout our range, south to Ga. and Tenn., west to E. Kan. and Minn. May–Aug.

Var. Canadénsis, Torr., has comparatively few and short-pedicelled sterile flowers, and styles shorter than the prickles. (S. Canadensis, L.)—With the last, but westward only to Minn. and E. Kan.

Order 49. ARALIÀCEÆ. (Ginseng Family.)

Herbs, shrubs, or trees, with much the same characters as Umbelliferæ, but with usually more than 2 styles, and the fruit a few–several-celled drupe.—Albumen mostly fleshy. Petals not inflexed.

1. ARÀLIA, Tourn. Ginseng. Wild Sarsaparilla.

Flowers more or less polygamous. Calyx-tube coherent with the ovary, the teeth very short or almost obsolete. Petals 5, epigynous, oblong or obovate, lightly imbricated in the bud, deciduous. Stamens 5, epigynous, alternate with the petals. Styles 2–5, mostly distinct and slender, or in the sterile flowers short and united. Ovary 2–5-celled, with a single anatropous ovule suspended from the top of each cell, ripening into a berry-like drupe, with as many seeds as cells. Embryo minute.—Leaves compound or decompound. Flowers white or greenish, in umbels. Roots (perennial), bark, fruit, etc., warm and aromatic. (Derivation obscure.)

§ 1. ARALIA. Flowers monœciously polygamous or perfect, the umbels usually in corymbs or panicles; styles and cells of the (black or dark purple) fruit 5; stems herbaceous or woody; ultimate divisions of the leaves pinnate.

[*] Umbels numerous in a large compound panicle; leaves very large, decompound.

1. A. spinòsa, L. (Angelica-tree. Hercules' Club.) Shrub, or a low tree; the stout stem and stalks prickly; leaflets ovate, pointed, serrate, pale beneath.—River-banks, Penn. to Ind., and south to the Gulf. July, Aug.

2. A. racemòsa, L. (Spikenard.) Herbaceous; stem widely branched; leaflets heart-ovate, pointed, doubly serrate, slightly downy; umbels racemose; styles united.—Rich woodlands, N. Brunswick to Minn., south to the mountains of Ga. July. Well known for its spicy-aromatic large roots.

[*][*] Umbels 2–7, corymbed; stem short, somewhat woody.

3. A. híspida, Vent. (Bristly Sarsaparilla. Wild Elder.) Stem (1–2° high) bristly, leafy, terminating in a peduncle bearing several umbels; leaves twice pinnate; leaflets oblong-ovate, acute, cut-serrate.—Rocky and sandy places, Newf. to Dak., south to the mountains of N. C. June.

4. A. nudicaùlis, L. (Wild Sarsaparilla.) Stem scarcely rising out of the ground, smooth, bearing a single long-stalked leaf (1° high) and a shorter naked scape, with 2–7 umbels; leaflets oblong-ovate or oval, pointed, serrate, 5 on each of the 3 divisions.—Moist woodlands; range of n. 3. May, June. The long horizontal aromatic roots a substitute for officinal Sarsaparilla.

§ 2. GÍNSENG. Flowers diœciously polygamous; styles and cells of the red or reddish fruit 2 or 3; stem herbaceous, low, simple, bearing a whorl of 3 palmately 3–7-foliolate leaves, and a simple umbel on a slender peduncle.

5. A. quinquefòlia, Decsne. & Planch. (Ginseng.) Root large and spindle-shaped, often forked (4–9´ long, aromatic); stem 1° high; leaflets long-stalked, mostly 5, large and thin, obovate-oblong, pointed; styles mostly 2; fruit bright red.—Rich and cool woods, Vt. and W. Conn. to Minn., south to the mountains of Ga. July.

6. A. trifòlia, Decsne. & Planch. (Dwarf Ginseng. Ground-nut.) Root or tuber globular, deep in the ground (pungent to the taste, not aromatic); stems 4–8´ high; leaflets 3–5, sessile at the summit of the leafstalk, narrowly oblong, obtuse; styles usually 3; fruit yellowish.—Rich woods, N. Scotia to Minn., south to Ga. April, May.

Order 50. CORNÀCEÆ. (Dogwood Family.)

Shrubs or trees (rarely herbaceous), with opposite or alternate simple leaves, the calyx-tube coherent with the 1–2-celled ovary, its limb minute, the petals (valvate in the bud) and as many stamens borne on the margin of an epigynous disk in the perfect flowers; style one; a single anatropous ovule hanging from the top of the cell; the fruit a 1–2-seeded drupe; embryo nearly as long as the albumen, with large foliaceous cotyledons.—Including two genera, of which Nyssa is partly apetalous. Bark bitter and tonic.

1. Cornus. Flowers perfect, 4-merous. Leaves mostly opposite.

2. Nyssa. Flowers diœciously polygamous, 5-merous. Leaves alternate.

1. CÓRNUS, Tourn. Cornel. Dogwood.

Flowers perfect (or in some foreign species diœcious). Calyx minutely 4-toothed. Petals 4, oblong, spreading. Stamens 4; filaments slender. Style slender; stigma terminal, flat or capitate. Drupe small, with a 2-celled and 2-seeded stone.—Leaves opposite (except in one species), entire. Flowers small, in open naked cymes, or in close heads surrounded by a corolla-like involucre. (Name from cornu, a horn; alluding to the hardness of the wood.)

§ 1. Flowers greenish, in a head or close cluster, surrounded by a large and showy, 4-leaved, corolla-like, white or rarely pinkish involucre; fruit bright red.

1. C. Canadénsis, L. (Dwarf Cornel. Bunch-berry.) Stems low and simple (5–7´ high) from a slender creeping and subterranean rather woody trunk; leaves scarcely petioled, the lower scale-like, the upper crowded into an apparent whorl in sixes or fours, ovate or oval, pointed; leaves of the involucre ovate; fruit globular.—Damp cold woods, N. J. to Ind. and Minn., and the far north and west. June.

2. C. flórida, L. (Flowering Dogwood.) Tree 12–40° high; leaves ovate, pointed, acutish at the base; leaves of the involucre obcordate (1½´ long); fruit oval.—Dry woods, from S. New Eng. to Ont. and S. Minn., south to Fla. and Tex. May, June. Very showy in flower, scarcely less so in fruit.

§ 2. Flowers white, in open flat spreading cymes; involucre none; fruit spherical; leaves all opposite (except in n. 9).

[*] Pubescence woolly and more or less spreading.

3. C. circinàta, L'Her. (Round-leaved Cornel or Dogwood.) Shrub 6–10° high; branches greenish, warty-dotted; leaves round-oval, abruptly pointed, woolly beneath (2–5´ broad); cymes flat; fruit light blue.—Copses, in rich or sandy soil, or on rocks, N. Scotia to Dak., south to Va. and Mo. June.

4. C. serícea, L. (Silky Cornel. Kinnikinnik.) Shrub 3–10° high; branches purplish; the branchlets, stalks, and lower surface of the narrowly ovate or elliptical pointed leaves silky-downy (often rusty), pale and dull; cymes flat, close; calyx-teeth lanceolate; fruit pale blue.—Wet places, Canada to Dak., south to Fla. and La. June.

5. C. asperifòlia, Michx. Branches brownish; the branchlets, etc., rough-pubescent; leaves oblong or ovate, on short petioles, pointed, rough with a harsh pubescence above, and downy beneath; calyx-teeth minute; fruit white. (C. Drummondii, Mey.)—Dry or sandy soil, N. shore of L. Erie to Minn. and the Gulf. May, June. A rather tall shrub.

[*][*] Pubescence closely appressed, straight and silky, or none.

6. C. stolonífera, Michx. (Red-osier Dogwood.) Branches, especially the osier-like shoots of the season, bright red-purple, smooth; leaves ovate, rounded at base, abruptly short-pointed, roughish with a minute close pubescence on both sides, whitish underneath; cymes small and flat, rather few-flowered, smooth; fruit white or lead-color.—Wet places; common, especially northward. Multiplies freely by prostrate or subterranean suckers, and forms broad clumps, 3–6° high. June.

7. C. strícta, Lam. (Stiff Cornel.) A shrub 8–15° high; branches brownish or reddish, smooth; leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate, taper-pointed, acutish at base, glabrous, of nearly the same hue both sides; cymes loose, flattish; anthers and fruit pale blue.—Swamps, Va. to Ga. and Fla. April, May.

8. C. paniculàta, L'Her. (Panicled Cornel.) Shrub 4–8° high, much branched; branches gray, smooth; leaves ovate-lanceolate, taper-pointed, acute at base, whitish beneath but not downy; cymes convex, loose, often panicled; fruit white, depressed-globose.—Thickets and river-banks. June.

9. C. alternifòlia, L. f. Shrub or tree 8–25° high; branches greenish streaked with white, the alternate leaves clustered at the ends, ovate or oval, long-pointed, acute at base, whitish and minutely pubescent beneath; cymes very broad and open; fruit deep blue on reddish stalks.—Hillsides in copses, N. Brunswick to Minn., south to Ga. and Ala. May, June.

2. NÝSSA, L. Tupelo. Pepperidge. Sour-Gum Tree.

Flowers diœciously polygamous, clustered or rarely solitary at the summit of axillary peduncles. Stam. Fl. numerous in a simple or compound dense cluster of fascicles. Calyx small, 5-parted. Petals as in fertile flower or none. Stamens 5–12, oftener 10, inserted on the outside of a convex disk; filaments slender; anthers short. No pistil. Pist. Fl. solitary, or 2–8, sessile in a bracted cluster, much larger than the staminate flowers. Calyx with a very short repand-truncate or minutely 5-toothed limb. Petals very small and fleshy, deciduous, or often wanting. Stamens 5–10, with perfect or imperfect anthers. Style elongated, revolute, stigmatic down one side. Ovary 1-celled. Drupe ovoid or oblong, with a bony and grooved or striate 1-celled and 1-seeded stone.—Trees with entire or sometimes angulate-toothed leaves, which are alternate, but mostly crowded at the ends of the branchlets, and greenish flowers appearing with the leaves. (The name of a Nymph: "so called because it [the original species] grows in the water.")

1. N. sylvática, Marsh. (Tupelo. Pepperidge. Black or Sour Gum.) Middle-sized tree, with horizontal branches; leaves oval or obovate, commonly acuminate, glabrous or villous pubescent when young, at least on the margins and midrib, shining above when old (2–5´ long); fertile flowers 3–8, at the summit of a slender peduncle; fruit ovoid, acid, bluish-black (about ½´ long). (N. multiflora, Wang.)—Rich soil, either moist or nearly dry, S. Maine and N. Vt. to Mich., south to Fla. and Tex. April, May. Leaves turning bright crimson in autumn. Wood firm, close-grained and very unwedgeable, on account of the oblique direction and crossing of its fibres.

2. N. uniflòra, Wang. (Large Tupelo.) A large tree; leaves oblong or ovate, sometimes slightly cordate at base, long-petioled, entire or angulate-toothed, pale and downy-pubescent beneath, at least when young (4–12´ long); fertile flower solitary on a slender peduncle; fruit oblong, blue (1´ or more in length).—Deep swamps, S. Va. to S. Ill. and Mo., south to Fla. and Tex. April. Wood soft; that of the roots very light and spongy.