RHAMNUS. 



Stamens with ovate 2-celled anthers. Torus thin, lining the tube 

 of the calyx. Ovary free from the calyx, and not immersed in 

 the torus, 2-3-4 -celled. Styles 2-4, more or less connected or 

 distinct. Fruit fleshy, containing 2-4 indehiscent cartilaginous 

 nuts ; one of them occasionally abortive. — Shrubs or small 

 trees. Leaves alternate or rarely opposite, stipuled, short- 

 stalked, feather-nerved. W. and A. 



326. R. catharticus Linn. sp. pi. 279. Eng. Bot. t. 1629. 

 Woodv. 1. 1 1 4. DC. prodr. ii. 24. S. and C. t. 1 1 9. — Hedges 

 and woods throughout Europe. (Buckthorn.) 



Branches alternate, or nearly opposite, spreading, straight, round, 

 smooth, hard, and rigid, each terminating in a strong spine, after the 

 first year. Leaves deciduous, bright green, smooth, ribbed ; the young 

 ones downy: the earlier ones in tufts from the flowering buds ; the 

 rest opposite, on the young branches. Footstalks downy. Stipules 

 linear. Flowers yellowish-green, on the last year's branches, numerous ; 

 the fertile ones with narrow petals, rudiments of stamens, and a deeply 

 4-cleft style; barren ones with an abortive ovary, and broader petals. 

 Berries globular, blueish-black, nauseous, with i cells, and as many 

 seeds; by which last character they are easily known, by druggists, 

 from the fruit of R. Frangula, which is supposed to be less active. The 

 unripe berries dye yellow. Smith. — Fruits violently purgative, but pro- 

 duce colic ; they are powerful hydragogue cathartics, 15 or 20 causing 

 abundant evacuation : only given in some kinds of dropsy. The syrup 

 usually prescribed in doses of 1 to 2 ounces. 



327. R. Frangula Linn. sp. pi. 280. E. Bot. t. 250. or Black 

 Alder, a common wild shrub, has emetic fruit. 



328. R. infectorius Linn. mant. 49. DC. prodr. ii. 24. — 

 (Clus. hist. i. 111. ic.) — Wild places in the South of Europe, 

 among rocks. 



A dwarf shrub, with a tough woody root; branches much entangled, 

 procumbent. Flowers and leaves all out of the same bud. Leaves ovate- 

 lanceolate, short-stalked, smooth ; with very narrow, subulate, deciduous 

 stipules. Flowers small, always unisexual, each on a long slender 

 stalk. Calyx yellowish green, tubular, half 4-cleft. Petals 4, of the 

 same colour, very narrow, half bifid. Fruit black, obovate, 2-3-celled, 

 2-3-seeded. — The unripe fruit is dried and sold under the name of 

 French berries, or Graines D' Avignon ; it is used for dying Maroquin 

 leather yellow, and is purgative like R. Frangula. 



329. R. saxatilis Linn. sp. pi. 1671. Jacq. austr. t. 53, a 

 nearly allied species, with more erect branches, or more probably 

 a mere variety, has similar properties ; so have 



330. R. amygdalinus Desf. atl. i. 198. 



331. R. oleoides Linn. sp. 279. 



332. R. buxifolius Poir. diet. iv. 463. 



333. R. pubescens Poir. diet. iv. 464. 



167 m 4 



