268 THE PROPAGATION OF HARDY TREES AND SHRUBS. 



these suckers are removed, they make handsome miniature trees. Propaga- 

 tion by suckers, cuttings, and seeds, in common soil and sand under a glass. 

 Of this genus we have six deciduous species,^ though there exists a doubt 

 among botanists if they are really distinct species. Three are evergreen. 



Order XXII. 



The hardy genera of this order are six, consisting of small ornamental 

 trees or shrubs, often spiny, and generally deciduous. Chiefly natives of 

 Europe or North America, of easy culture, and propagated by seeds, cuttings, 

 and layers. They are distinguished as follows. 



Zizyphus. Petals five, styles three. Fruit an ovid mucilaginous drupe. 

 Nuts two-celled, seed-compressed. Deciduous low trees or shrubs. 



Paliurus. Petals five, styles three. Fruit dry, girded with a broad mem- 

 branaceous wing, three-celled, seed ovate. A spiny shrub. 



Berchemia. Petals five, styles one, stigma two. Fruit an oblong dry 

 drupe. A twining deciduous shrub. 



Mhamnus. Petals, in some, absent ; calyx five cleft, styles four-cleft. Fruit 

 nearly dry, or berried, not eatable, one-seeded, oblong. Small, deciduous, or 

 evergreen shrubs or trees. 



Colletia. Corolla none, calyx five-cleft, pitcher-shaped ; stamens five, style 

 ending in three teeth. Fruit, three-celled capsule ; spiny shrubs, with small 

 leaves. 



Ceanotlms. Corolla, five petals, each with a long claw, and hooded ; style 

 three, united as far as the middle. Fruit a dry berry, three-celled, seed 

 ovate, shrubs deciduous, or evergreen, leaves mostly ovate; highly orna- 

 mental. 



Genus I. 

 Zizyphus. The jujube. Pentandria Di-Trigynia. The common cultivated 

 jujube (Zizyphus vulgaris) is the only hardy species of this genus in our 

 gardens, as far as we are aware of. It is a native of Syria, and other parts 

 of Asia, and in Greece. It is cultivated on account of the beauty of its 

 foliage, in this country ; and in Languedoc, on account of its fruit. The 

 taste of the fruit is somewhat acid ; the flesh is firm and succulent. When 

 dried, it makes a very nice preserve. The syrup is used for abating fevers, 

 and purifying the blood, and in coughs and catarrhs ; lozenges, for the latter 

 purpose, are also made from it. The stem is thick, cylindrical, somewhat 

 twisted ; bark, brown, rather chopped ; branches, numerous, pliant, armed 

 with prickles ; leaves, alternate, oval-oblong, somewhat hard; flowers, pale 

 yellow ; fruit, oval-oblong, resembling that of the olive, red when ripe. Easily 

 propagated, either by seeds, cuttings, or by suckers, which it produces in 

 abundance. 



