GEi-A8TRiJs. PENTANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 2€3 



ridge on the inside, 2-seeded. jirillus pulpy, open at the top, 

 scarlet when mature. 

 . Hab. In woods and thickets. June. Eitter-siveet. Wax-work, 



178. RHAMNUS. L. 



Calyx urceolate, 4 — 5 cleft. Petals 4 — 5, opposite 

 the stamens, (sometimes abortive.) Stamens 4—5. 

 Stigma 2— 4-cleft. Berry 3— 4-seeded. Gen. pi. 358o 

 Nutt. Gen. I. p. 152. /z/^j. p. 980. Lanu III 

 t-CXXVIli. Roem.^ Schult. Gen.94.:^. Nat. 

 Ofd. Rhamni /w5j. Buck-thorm 



1 . R. alnifolius VH erit. : unarmed ; leares oval, acu- 

 minate, serrulate, pubescent on the nerves beneath ; flowers 

 dioecious; peduncles 1 -flowered, aggregate; calyx acute; 

 fruit turbinate. PH e r i t, Sert. Ang. p. 5. Willd. Spec. 

 I. p. 1100. Roem. ^ Schult. V. p. 286. excl. syn. 

 Pursh. R. franguloides M i c h, Fh I. p. 1 53. Pursh 

 /'/.I. p. 166, R.<^S.Lc. 



A small shrub, with smooth grayish-brown branches. Leaves 

 alternate, about an inch and a half long, on short peiioles, 

 nerved and reticulate. Flowers small, greenish, in short axil- 

 lary fascicles. Berries black. 



Hab. On rocky hills ; rare ; near the sea-coast. May. 



2. R. catharticns L. : spines terminal ; flowers generally 

 4-Cleft, polygamo-dioecious ; leaves ovate ; stem erect ; ber- 

 ries 4-seeded. Will d. Spec. I. p. 1 09.1. Smtth Fl. Brit. 

 I. p. 263. Ejig. BoU t. 1 629. Roem, ^ Schult. Y.^, 

 276. 



A small tree or large shrub, with spreading branches and gray-- 

 ish bark. Leaves fasciculate and opposite, on petioles one- 

 third their length, nervose, an inch and a half long ; margin 

 erosely denticulate. Flowers clustered, on short axillary pe- 

 dicels. Segments of the calyx lanceolate, recurved. Petals 

 Tery small, yellowish-green. Stamens 4, a little longer than 

 the flowers ; anthers didymous, oblong. Stigma 4-cleft. 

 Berries black, nauseous and cathartic. 



Hab. On mountains and in woods. Abundant in Williamstown, 

 and other pans of New-England, apparently indigenous. 

 Dewey. In the most retired parts of the Highlands of New- 

 York. Barratt. Buck-thorn, 

 I suspect this plant has been introduced into this country at 

 an early period, and that it is not really indigenous. Dr. Bar- 

 ratt informs me, that the old inhabitants of the Highlands re- 

 member to have seen it in gardens before it appeared in the 

 woods. 



