344 '^ZT- RHAMNACEAE 



a sort of bread and a beverage are prepared ; others have poisonous 



fruits ; some are used as hedge plants Zizyphus Juss. 



Leaves penninerved 5 



5. Flowers in terminal panicles, 5-merous. Stigmas 3. Fruit with 3 stones. 



Shrubs with spin}^ branches. Leaves opposite. — Species i. North- 

 ern East Africa. The fruits are edible. . . . Sageretia Brongn. 

 Flowers in axillary inflorescences 6 



6. Receptacle united with the fruit for the greatest part. Fruit with 2 — 4 



indehiscent stones. Seeds not grooved. Disc thick. Spines in the 

 axils of the leaves. — Species 3. Tropical and South Africa. {Adolia 



Lam.) Scutia Brongn. 



Receptacle free from the fruit for the greatest part. Disc thin, rarely 



thick, but then spines, as usually, wanting 7 



7 Fruit with i two-celled stone. Disc thick. Style 2-cleft. Flowers 5- 

 merous. Leaves alternate. — Species i. East Africa. The fniits 



are edible Berchemia Neck. 



Fruit with 2 — 4 stones. Disc thin 8 



8. Fruit with a red skin and a woody stone separating into 3 elastically 



dehiscing portions. Seed-coat crustaceous, shining. Flowers 5-nierous. 

 Leaves alternate. — Species i. Madagascar. . Macrorhamnus Baill. 

 Fruit with 2- — 4 leathery or thin-woody, scarcely or not dehiscing stones. 

 Seed-coat thin. — Species 17. North, East, and South Africa. They 

 jäeld timber, dyes, a substitute for hop, fish-poison, and medicaments. 

 " Buckthorn." Rhamnus L. 



9. (i.) Ovary half-inferior 10 



Ovary inferior 15 



10. Style simple ; stigma 3-lobed. Leaves penninerved, serrate or crenate. 11 

 Style 2— 4-cleft 12 



11. Ovary incompletely 2 — 3-celled, i — 2-ovuled. Fruit drupaceous, i- 



celled, T — 2-seeded. Trees. Leaves opposite or nearly so. Flowers in 

 axillary, raceme-like cymes. (See 2.) . . . . Maesopsis Engl. 



Ovary completely 3-celled, 3-ovuled. Fruit separating into 3 dehiscing 

 mericarps, 3-seeded. Shrubs. Leaves alternate. Flowers in axillary 

 and terminal cymes or panicles. — Species i. South Africa and St. 

 Helena Noltia Reichb. 



12. Leaves 3 — 5-nerved from the base, alternate. Fruit a drupe. Stem erect 



or decumbent 13 



Leaves penninerved. Fruit a nut, a schizocarp, or a capsule. ... 14 



13. Fruit with a horizontal wing ; epicarp leather}^ endocarp woody. Leaves 



3-nerved, serrate ; stipules transformed into spines. Flowers in 

 axillary and terminal, raceme-like cymes. — Species i. Cultivated and 

 naturalized in Algeria. Used medicinally and as a hedge-plant. 



Paliurus Juss. 



Fruit not winged ; epicarp fleshy, endocarp horny woody or leathery. 



(See 4.) Zizyphus Juss. 



