The tiny five-parted flowers have their petals curved
backward over the calyx to make their refreshments more
accessible for the flies, on which they chiefly rely for aid in
producing those close clusters of dark-purple berries on which
migrating birds feast in early autumn. By these agents the plant
has been distributed from Newfoundland to the Carolinas, westward
from Manitoba to Missouri, which is not surprising when we
remember that certain birds travel from the Gulf of Mexico to the
Great Lakes in a single night. While the true sarsaparilla of
medicine should come from a quite different herb that flourishes
in Mexico and South America, this one furnishes a commercial
substitute enormously used as a blood purifier and cooling summer
drink. Burrowing rabbits delight to nibble the long, slender,
fragrant roots.
The GINSENG (Panax quinquefolium; Aralia quinquefolia of Gray)
found in rich woods from Quebec to Alabama, and westward to
Nebraska - that is, where found at all, for much hunting has all
but exterminated it in many regions - bears a solitary umbel of
small yellowish-green, five-parted, polygamous flowers in July
and August at the end of a smooth stem about a foot high.
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