ARALIA, the designation of a widely dis tributed genius of about 20 species of dicotyled onous shrubs, trees and perennial herbs typ ical of the family Araliacece. The species have large alternate compound deciduous leaves, small umbels of whitish flowers usually ar ranged in panicles, and two- to five-seeded, variously colored, globular, berry-like drupes. All parts of the plants have a warm, aromatic taste. A. spinosa, devil's walking-stick, angelica tree, Hercules' club, toothache tree, a very ornamental shrub or small tree about 12 feet tall (sometimes 40 feet), is common in moist woods and along river banks from Pennsyl vania to Indiana and southward to the Gulf of Mexico. Its very stout, prickly stems, large pinnate leaves and clusters of flowers which appear in midsummer, give a decided sub tropical effect upon lawns in the South. It is not hardy in the North. A racemosa, spikenard, a widely branched herbaceous species, with large, spicy, aromatic roots and greenish-white flowers which appear in midsummer, is com mon in rich woods from New Brunswick to Minnesota and southward to the mountains of Georgia. A. nudicaulis, wild sarsaparilla, small
spikenard, a nearly stemless herbaceous species with a single pinnate leaf a foot high, is com mon in rocky and sandy places from New foundland to Missouri and southward to the mountains of North Carolina. It bears from two to seven umbels of greenish flowers in late spring. The long, horizontal, aromatic roots are believed to be equal to those of sar saparilla as an alterative and tonic. A. hispida, wild elder, bristly sarsaparilla, a bristly stemmed perennial, is found in the same lo calities and soils as the preceding. It bears several terminal umbels of white flowers in early summer. Among foreign Aralias the Asiatic species are perhaps of most importance. Some, notably A. cordata, known as Udo, are of value as human food; others as stock food when grasses are scarce. A. chinensis, Chinese angelica tree, is much like its American rela tive, A. spinosa, but is hardier and blossoms somewhat later.