Ptelea. Ptelea trifoliata. Wafer ash, Wing seed.

Ptelea. Ptelea trifoliata, L. and the variety Mollis T. and G. Wafer Ash. Wing Seed. Shrubby Trefoil. Hop Tree. Orme a trois feuilles, Fr. Hopfenbaum, Kleebaum, G. (Fam. Rutaceae.) —This is a shrub with 3-foliate leaves growing in rocky places from Long Island to Minnesota and southward. The root bark has a peculiar somewhat aromatic odor, and a bitter, persistently pungent, and slightly acrid, yet not disagreeable taste. Steer obtained from it an oleoresin of an acrid and bitter taste and the alkaloid berberine. An alkaloid, arginine, C₆H₁₄O₂N₄, is stated also to be present in the root. (A. J. P., 1867, 337.) It was formerly employed among the physicians of the Western States in the treatment of dyspepsia, and generally in diseases requiring a mild, non-irritating, bitter tonic.

The Dispensatory of the United States of America, 1918, was edited by Joseph P. Remington, Horatio C. Wood and others.