SPINDLE-TREE TRIBE 169 



gained for it the name of the Burning Bush. This is the Euonymus 

 american us. 



Spindle-tree is the common name for the shrub whose dark green foliage 

 so often thickens in our hedge-rows, and it has a name of the same meaning 

 in many other countries. Thus it is the Spindlebaum of the Germans, the 

 Fusaggino of the Italians, and the Fusain of the French. The latter people 

 call it also Bois a Lardoire ; and Bonnet de pretre is another familiar name 

 given, from its three-corned capsules ; the Spaniards also commonly term it 

 Bondcro. It was known to the old English herbalists chiefly by the name 

 of Prickwood. The distaff and spindle are so little used in modern days, 

 that it is no longer employed for making spindles, as it once was, though 

 the Grcrmans still use the tree for that purpose. Skewers are yet cut from 

 its tough close-grained Avood, Avhich forms also a serviceable material to the 

 watch and clock maker, who make of it the implements with which they 

 clean their machinery. The musical instrument maker also uses the wood 

 of the Spindle-tree ; and in Ireland it is called Pegwood, because shoemakers 

 cut their pegs from its branches. The burnt wood forms a good charcoal for 

 the use of the artist. 



This plant seldom attains in our hedges the size of a tree, and is rarely 

 more than eight or ten feet in height, but in shrubberies it sometimes grows 

 into a tall and handsome tree. The bark and leaves are very poisonous, and 

 so also are the handsome and fetid berries, which cause sickness almost im- 

 mediately on being swallowed. Most animals refuse to eat these berries, 

 but they are sometimes used in dyeing, and afford a good yellow colour when 

 boiled, without the admixture of any other ingredient, while, if mingled 

 with alum, they yield a green dye, and a beautiful red tint is obtained from 

 the seed-vessels. 



The several species of Spindle-tree, which are very ornamental to our 

 shrubberies, are the plants of other lands. The Hindoos make use of the 

 inner bark of one of them {Euonymus tingens), which is of a beautiful yellow 

 colour, to mark the tika on their foreheads. Another of the Spindle-tree 

 tribe (Catha cd'ulis) is the Kat or Khat of the Arabs. It seems to possess 

 some stimulating properties. Forskhal says that the Arabs eat the green 

 leaves with avidity, believing them to have the power of causing great 

 watchfulness, so that a man may, after eating them, stand sentry all night 

 without drowsiness. So efficacious do they imagine this plant to be against 

 the plague, that they assert of a person wearing a small piece about him, 

 that he may go with impunity among the infected, and that the plague will 

 not enter a neighbourhood in which it is planted. Forskhal, however, did 

 not consider that the flavour of the leaf indicated any virtue of this kind. 



2. Bladder-nut {StaphyUa). 



Common Bladder-nut (;S^. pinndta). — Leaves pinnate; leaflets from 

 5 to 7 ; flowers in racemes ; styles 2 ; capsules bladdery and membranace- 

 ous. Plant perennial. The yellowish-white flowers of this plant are to be 

 seen in June in some thickets and hedges. It has no pretensions to be 

 called a wild flower, for it is scarcely even naturalized, and custom alone 

 sanctions its admission into a list of British plants. It occurs in Yorkshire, 



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