170 RHAMNEJE 



and about Ashford, in Kent. It is a native of Eastern Europe, and is an 

 ornamental, hardy, shrubby plant, often cultivated in gardens for its singu- 

 larity rather than its beauty. Its bony polished seeds are used in some 

 countries for rosaries ; they are bitter, but are eaten on the Continent by 

 poor people, and by children. Gerarde says, that when first tasted they are 

 sweet ; but that this agreeable flavour becomes afterwards nauseous. 



Order XXIV. RHAMNEiE— BUCKTHORN TRIBE. 



Calyx 4 — 5-cleft, valvafce when in bud; petals 4 — 5, inserted on the 

 upper part of the calyx-tube ; stamens 4 — 5, opposite the petals ; ovary 

 superior, or half superior, 2— 4-celled, surrounded by a fleshy disk ; fruit 

 either fleshy, and not bursting, or dry, and opening in three divisions ; seeds 

 several. This order consists of trees and shrubs, having thorns, simple 

 leaves, minute stipules, and small greenish flowers. They are found in 

 almost all parts of the world, except the Arctic zone. 



Some very interesting plants, both of Scripture and classic writers, are 

 contained in this order. The Zizyphus spina-Christi is believed, by Hassel- 

 quist and some other botanists, to be the plant of which the crown of thorns 

 was made which was placed in mockery on our Saviour's brow. Other 

 writers consider the Paliurus amieatus to be the true Christ's thorn. Both 

 are prickly shrubs common in the East, and both bear eatable fruits. The 

 fruit of the latter resembles a head with a broad-brimmed hat, and the plant 

 is hence called Porte cJiapeau. They are sold in the markets of Constanti- 

 nople, and the hakims, or native doctors, prescribe them in many complaints. 

 This is one of the commonest thorns of the hedges and thickets in many 

 parts of Asia, forming an almost impenetrable hedge. 



The Jujube, which is a favourite sweetmeat in Italy and Spain, is the 

 fruit of some plants of this order, Zizyphus jujuba, and Zizyphus vulgaris. 

 The Turks plant the trees before their coftee-houses for the sake both of the 

 fruit and shadow. 



The celebrated Lotus of Homer, the plant which aff"orded food to the 

 ancient Lotophagi, or Lotus-eaters, is the Zizyp)hus lotus of the botanist. It 

 is not so confined in its distribution as the Greeks imagined it to be, but 

 grows wild in Persia, the interior of Africa, and on the sea-coast near Tunis. 

 The fruits are eaten wherever they are found, and are sold in the markets of 

 Barbary ; but, we need hardly say, they have none of those eflects which 

 Homer describes as in his days following their use : — 



' ' The trees around them all their food produce, 

 Lotos, the name divine, nectareous juice ; 

 Thence called Lotophagi, which whoso tastes 

 Insatiate riots in their sweet repasts ; 

 Noi- other home, nor other care intends, 

 But quits his house, his country, and his friends." 



Mungo Park states that this fruit is converted by the natives of Africa 

 into a sort of l)read, by first exposing it to the sun, and afterwards pounding 

 it in a mortar to separate the farinaceous portion from the stone ; and that a 

 kind of gruel made from it forms, for a large part of the year, the common 



