328 PENTANDRIA— MONOGYNIA. Rhanmus. 



Xylosteum. Dod. Pempt. 412./. Riv. Monop. In: 1. 120. 



In thickets and rocky places. 



In the fissures of rocks, under the Roman wall near Shewing- 

 Sheels, or rather Sewenshele, Northumberland. IValtis. Plen- 

 tifully, and certainly wild, in a coppice called the Hacketts, to 

 the east of Houghton bridge, 4 miles from Arundel,, Sussex. Mr. 

 Borrer. 



Shrub. July. 



Stem erect, bushy, 4 or 5 feet high, with numerous, round branches- 

 the young ones leafy and downy. Leaves deciduous, stalked, 

 ovate, acute, dull green, soft and flexible. FL small, cream- 

 coloured, or reddish, scentless, in pairs, on axillary simple stalks. 

 Bracteas hairy, double j the 2 outermost lanceolate, spreading ; 

 inner a small concave scale under each germen. Cat. in 5 ob- 

 tuse lobes. Cor. downy. Berries scarlet, oval, distinct, of 1 

 cell, with about G seeds in each. A shrub of little beauty, and 

 l.o known utility, though common in plantations ) where I have 

 never seen any ripe fruit. 



120. RHAMNUS. Buckthorn. 



Linn. Gen. 105. Juss. 380. FZ.Ar.261; Tourn.t.366. Lam.t.\28. 



Gcertn. f. 106. 

 Frangula. Tuurn. t.383. 



Nat. Ord. Dumoscc. Linn. 43. Rhamni. Juss. 95. N. 121 

 the same. 



Cal. inferior, of 1 leaf, funnel-shaped; coloured internally ; 

 limb in 5, sometimes only 4, acute, equal, spreading seg- 

 ments. Petals as many as the segments of the calyx, alter- 

 nate with them, small, converging, sometimes imperfect, 

 or wanting. Filam. in the mouth of the calyx, opposite 

 to each petal, awl-shaped, short. Anth. roundish, two- 

 lobed, small. Germ, superior, roundish, seated on a glan- 

 dular disk. Style short, cylindrical, rarely divided. Stigma 

 in 2, 3, or 4 lobes. Berry nearly globular, of 2, 3, or 4 

 cells. Seeds solitary in each cell, rounded externally, 

 flattened at the inner side. 



The flowers are often more or less dioecious. 



Stem shrubby. Leaves stalked, simple and undivided. Sti- 

 jpulas small, deciduous. FL small, on aggregate stalks, 

 yellowish. Berries blueish-black, purgative. 



1. R. catharticas. Common Buckthorn. 



Thorns terminal. Flowers four-cleft, dioecious. Leaves 

 ovate, serrated. Stem erect. Berry with four seeds. 



