CALIFORNIAN SPIKENARD.
Aralia Californica, Wats. Ginseng Family.
Root.—Thick; aromatic. Stems.—Eight to ten feet high. Leaves.—Bipinnate; or the upper pinnate, with one or two pairs of leaflets. Leaflets.—Cordate-ovate; four to eight inches long; serrate. Flowers.—White; two lines long; in globular umbels, arranged in loose panicles a foot or two long. Pedicels four to six lines long. Calyx.—Five-toothed or entire. Petals and Stamens.—Five. Ovary.—Two- to five-celled. Styles united to the middle. Fruit.—A purple berry. Hab.—Widely distributed; on stream-banks.
In moist, cool ravines, where the sun only slants athwart the branches and a certain dankness always lingers, the Californian spikenard scents the air with its peculiar odor. It closely resembles A. racemosa of the Eastern States, but it is a larger, coarser plant in every way. It throws up its tall stems with a fine confidence that there will be ample space for its large leaves to spread themselves uncrowded. Its feathery panicles of white flowers are followed by clusters of small purple berries, and are rather more delicate than we should expect from so large a plant.