140 EL^AaNACE^— OLEASTER TRIBE 



winds on the mountain-steeps in the remotest HigUands, though it does not 

 there attain a great size. 



Several very large and handsome Wych Elms are well-known objects of 

 interest, and Wych Elms in this kingdom have been recorded as growing to 

 the height of one hundred and twenty feet. 



The origin of the name of this tree is unknown ; but it appears that 

 several Elms, as well as this species, were in former days called Wych Elm ; 

 and it has been surmised that our Saxon ancestors so named them because 

 Elms might have grown near their salt springs, Avhich they called wych, or 

 witch. It is proliable that the similarity of the word to the name of witch 

 led to some popular superstition connected with the tree, for dairymaids 

 in the midland counties of England still gather a bough of this Elm and place 

 it in the churn, that the milk may the more readily turn into butter. 



Order LXXIX. EL^AGNACEiE— OLEASTER TRIBE. 



Stamens and pistils in the same or separate flowers or on separate plants ; 

 barren flowers in cations ; perianth tubular ; stamens 3 — 8, sessile on the 

 throat of the perianth ; fertile flower solitary, tubular, not falling off ; ovary 

 1-celled ; style short ; stigma awl-shaped ; fruit a single nut enclosed within 

 the fleshy perianth. The order consists of trees or shrubs without stipules, 

 but often covered with scurfy scales. The fruits of several species are eaten 

 in the East, and the plants are found throughout the northern hemisphere. 



Sea Buckthorn {IIi/ij)ophae). — Barren floA\'ers in small catkins ; perianth 

 of 2 valves ; stamens 4, with very short filaments ; fertile flowers solitary, 

 perianth tubular, cloven at the summit ; style short ; stigma awl-shaped ; 

 fruit a 1 -seeded nut. Origin of name uncertain. 



Sea Buckthorn {Hijipojihae). 



Sea Buckthorn, Sallow-thorn, or Willow-thorn (//. rhamnoides) 

 — Ijcaves linear-lanceolate ; flowers small, greenish ; perennial. Those 

 accustomed to walk in gardens near the sea, are familiar with this plant, for 

 it often combines with the tamarisk to give greenness and shelter to the beds 

 visited by rough and bleak winds. When cultivated, it sometimes becomes 

 almost like a tree, Avith a thick woody trunk, twenty feet high, and numerous 

 irregular branches ; l)ut when growing wild on the sea-clifls and sand-hills 

 about our coast, it is usually a thorny-branched shrub, not more than three 

 or four feet in height. It is naturalized in Scotland and Ireland, but occurs 

 as a native in various places on the English coast from Kent to Yorkshire ; 

 and on some, as on the south of Kent, it is conmion. It grows on the sands 

 of Deal, and on the chalk both east and Avest of Dover, and near Folkestone. 

 It is very plentiful, too, on the flat sandy line betAveen Cromer and Yarmouth, 

 in Norfolk, and is more or less frequent throughout Europe and Northern 

 Asia. Though growing above the level of the tide-mark, yet it Avill bear an 

 occasional dash of spray ; and on some of our shores, and still more frequently 

 on those of the Continent, it is planted with the sea-side grasses for the 



