142 ELEMENTS OF BOTANY. 



niite at botli ends, finely serrate, smooth or nearly so ; flowers in dense, 

 erect panicles, bright red; stamens rather longer than the petals; 

 fruit nearly smooth. March-May. Common in open woods. 



75. RHAMNACEiE. BUCKTHORN FAMILY. 



Trees, shrubs or woody vines ; stem often thorny ; leaves 

 simple, alternate or opposite, stipulate ; flowers mostly in 

 axillary or terminal cymes or panicles, small, greenish, per- 

 fect or polygamous ; calyx 4-5-parted ; petals hooded, alter- 

 nate with the sepals or wanting; stamens as many as the 

 sepals and opposite them, perigynous ; style 1, ovary 1^- 

 celled with a single ovule in each cell; fruit a drupe or 

 capsule. 



I. BERCHEMIA. 



Shrubs ; stems twining or erect ; leaves alternate, promi- 

 nently pinnate-veined, stipules minute ; flowers in axillary 

 or terminal panicles, or rarely solitary ; calyx tube hemi- 

 spherical, 5-lobed; petals 5, sessile, concave, as long as the 

 calyx ; ovary 2-celled, half-inferior, stigmas 2 ; fruit an oval, 

 2-seeded drupe. 



B. SCANDENS (Hill) Trel. Supple-jack, Rattan-vine. A 



woody vine, often twining high ; older bark yellowish, twigs purple, 

 wood very tough ; leaves ovate or oval, acute or obtuse, cuspidate at 

 the apex, rounded at the base, wavy on the margins, green above, 

 pale beneath ; flowers in small panicles ; drupe purple. May-June. 

 In moist woods and along streams. 



II. RHAMNUS. 



Shrubs or small trees ; leaves alternate ; flowers in axillary 

 cymes or panicles, perfect, polygamous or dioecious ; calyx 

 tube urn-shaped, 4-5-cleft ; petals small, often wanting; ovary 

 superior, 3-4-celled, style 3-4-parted ; fruit a globose, berry- 

 like drupe with 2-4 smooth or grooved nutlets. 



R. Caroliniana Walt. Carolina Buckthorn. A small tree 

 with black bark aiul very hard wood; twigs puberulent; leaves 



