CHAP. CXVI. 



I.ILIACEJE. RV'SCVS. 



2519 



each, gibbous on one side, flat on the other, and extremely hard. It is a 

 native of Europe, but not of the more northern parts. It is also found in 

 Asia and Africa. In England, it is common in woods and hedges, in Norfolk, 

 Suffolk, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Essex, ajjd Middlesex. It is often found in 

 the neighbourhood of London, and was formerly abundant on Hampstead 

 Heath, and at Norwood in Surrey. It has also been discovered in Cambridge- 

 shire, in the New Forest in Hampshire, and in Kent. It is rare in Scotland, 

 but has been found in Bothwell Woods near Glasgow, and in Sheldon Woods 

 near Ayr. It is not found in Ireland. It is very common in Italy, where 

 it is frequently made into besoms; and the hucksters, both in Italy and 

 Germany, place boughs of it round their bacon and cheese, to defend them 

 from mice; whence, perhaps, the German name of mausedorn. It is also 

 used in Brittany, to make little brooms, or scrubbing-brushes, to clean the 

 inside of the kitchen utensils. In England, the green shoots are cut, bound 

 in bundles, and sold to the butcher's for sweeping their blocks ; whence the 

 popular English name of butcher's broom. It is also used, in London, by the 

 manufacturers of cigars, &c., for sprinkling the saline liquor over the tobacco 

 leaves. The tender young shoots, in spring, are sometimes gathered and eaten 

 by the poor, both in England and France, hke those of asparagus ; and the 

 branches, with ripe fruit on them, were formerly stuck up in sand, with the 

 stalks of the common peony and wild iris (lYis foetidfssima), full of their ripe 

 seeds, which altogether made a show in rooms during winter. Planted under 

 trees or shrubs, the iJuscus aculeatus will spread into large clumps ; and, as it 

 retains its leaves all the winter, it has a good effect as a low undergrowth, 

 more especially as it will live in situations so shady as to be unfit for almost 

 any other plant. The root is of a bitterish taste, and was formerly much 

 used in medicine as an aperient and diuretic, particularly in cases of dropsy. 



a. 2. R. hypophy'llum L, The under-leaf Ruscus, or broad-leaved 

 Butcher's Broom. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 1474. ; Reich., 4. 284 ; Desf. Atlan., 374. ; Hist des Arb., &c., 1. p. 11. ; 



Mart. Mill., No. 2. ; Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 879. ; Ait. Hort., ed. 2., 5. p. 420. 

 Synonymes. R. latitTilius, &c., Tourn., Inst., 79.; Z,aurus alexandrlna Zo6. Adv., SjC, 509., Bauh. 



Hist., Rail Hist., 663. 2. ; X. a. Chamsdaphne Col., ^c, 1. par. 1. p. 364. f. 1. ; Z,. a. genuina Park. 



Theat., 700. 1. ; L. Chaina;daphne vfera Dioscdridis, Park. Theat, 700. 2. ; i. a. altera Matth. 



S41., Tourn. Ic, 862. ; L. a. vera Clus. Hist., 278., Raii Hist-, 663. 3. ; Fragon saas Foliole, Fr. ; 



breitblattriger Mausedorn, Ger. 

 Engravings. Tourn. Ic. ; Colum. Ic. ; Bot. Mag., 2040. ; and our yfg. 2388. 



Spec. Char., iSj-c. Flowers produced underneath the leaves. ( Willd.) The 

 roots of this species have large knotty heads, witli 

 long thick fibres, hke those of the preceding kind. 

 The stalks are tough and flexible, rising about 2 ft. 

 high. Leaves stiff, ovate-oblong, ending in points ; 

 more than 2 in. long, and almost 1 in. broad ; placed 

 alternately. The flowers, which appear in May and 

 June, are small and inconspicuous, and are pro- 

 duced on the under surface of the leaf, close to 

 the midrib ; the female flowers being succeeded by 

 small red berries, about the size of those of the 

 common juniper. The stems die down the second 

 year, like those of the preceding species. It is a 

 native of Italy and Africa, and was cultivated in 

 168.3, by Mr. James Sutherland. There are plants 

 at Messrs. Loddiges's. 



Variett/. 



M- R. h. 2 trifolidtum, R. trifoli&tus Mill. No. 5., has ovate-acuminate leaves, placed by threes, 

 and flowers on their upper sides. It is a native of Zante, and some other of the Greek 

 islands, where it grows about 2 ft. high. 



a. 3. R. (h.) i/ypoGLo'ssuM L. The Under-tongue Ruscus, or double- 

 leaved Butcher's Broom. 



Identification. Lin. Sp., 1474.; Scop. Cam., 1231.; Desf. Atlan., 374.; Mart. Mill., 3.; Willd. 

 Sp. PI., 4. p. 875. ; Ait. Hort. Kew., 5. p. 421. ; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. 



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