igo THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



pointed, or blunt, the veins few and prominent, 

 spreading at a wide angle from the midrib, from 

 below the middle. The leaf-stalks are longer than 

 the stipules. 



The flowers are very small, in close cymose 

 clusters, in the axils of the leaves, or solitary. The 

 plant is dioecious. In the male flowers the calyx is 

 bell-shaped ; in the female it is cupular, with acute 

 lobes. The flowers are yellowish-green, four-cleft, 

 borne on short stalks. 



The petals are narrow, not longer than the calyx- 

 teeth. The styles are four-cleft (or two- to five- 

 cleft), uniting halfway. The drupe is round, black, 

 with four inversely ovoid stones, grooved on the 

 back. The notch in the seeds is closed. 



The plant being dioecious, each containing the 

 rudiments of the other sex, is adapted to cross-polli- 

 nation. The following forms occur: a long-styled 

 male, a short-styled male, a long-styled female, and 

 a short-styled female. The male flowers are larger 

 than the female. The anthers mature first. 



The fruit, a berry, is dispersed by birds. 



Buckthorn is known also by the names French 

 Berries, Hart's- thorn, Rainberry- Thorn, Rhine- 

 berry, Waythorn. The prefix Buck is the same as 

 Box. 



The berries are cathartic (hence catharticus), and 

 have been used medicinally. When mixed with 

 alum and evaporated the juice yields a paint — sap- 

 green. 



