532 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 
Description, History, §c. A deciduous shrub or 
low tree, growing to the height of 12 ft. or 15 ft. in 
a state of cultivation, with many irregular branches, 
the young shoots of which have a smooth greyish 
brown bark; but the older branches have rougher 
bark, armed with a few short thorns. The leaves 
are ribbed, smooth, and of a bright green. The 
flowers are of a yellowish green, and they are suc- 
ceeded by berries, which are globular, bluish black, 
nauseous, violently purgative, with 4 cells, and as 
many seeds. By this last character they are dis- my Hy): 
tinguished by druggists from the berries of R. Fran- Ap Sa 
gula, which are supposed to be less cathartic. In 3 ‘a | 
Britain, this species is found in native woods and # 
thickets, generally on calcareous and loamy soils, but seldom above 10 ft. or 
12 ft. in height. According to Pallas, this species is common in the cham- 
paign and southern parts of Siberia, with a trunk thicker than a man’s arm, 
and the wood very hard, and of a reddish colour. The flowers are, for the 
most part, hermaphrodite, and, in a wild state, clustered; but in a state of cul- 
tivation they are fewer, and nearly solitary. The juice of the unripe berries 
has the colour of saffron, and it is used for staining maps or paper: they are 
sold under the name of French berries. The juice of the ripe berries, mixed 
with alum, is the sap green of painters; but, if the berries be gathered late 
in the autumn, the juice is purple. The bark affords a beautiful yellow dye. 
The inner bark, like that of the elder, is said to be a strong cathartic, and to 
excite vomiting ; the berries are also strongly purgative; and it is said that the 
flesh of birds which feed upon them possesses the same quality. Plants of 
this species, in the garden of the London Horticultural Society, have attained 
the height of 9 ft.in 10 years: they do not make much show in spring, when 
in flower; but in autumn and winter, when profusely covered with their black 
berries, they are very ornamental. The fruit remains on after the leaves have 
fallen. Plants, in the London nurseries, are 1s. each; at New York, plants 
are 374 cents each. 
If plants were required for forming hedges (for which the species is very 
eligible, in consequence of its robust and rigid habit of growth), they could, no 
doubt, be provided and supplied at a price less than that of plants of the com- 
mon hawthorn, because plants of #. catharticus come up in the first year 
from the sowing. 
& 5. R.virea tus Roxrb. The twiggy Buckthorn. 
Identification. Roxb, Fl. Ind., 2. p. 351.; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 24.; Don’s Mill, 2. p. 30. 
Synonymes. R. catharticus Hamilt. MSS. 
Spec. Char., &c. Erect. Branchlets terminating in a’spine. Leaves nearly opposite, oblong, ventricose, 
serrated. Flowers around the base of the ycung shoots, and axillary in threes. Stigmas 2—3-cleft. 
(Don’s Mill., ii. p. 33.) A deciduous shrub, growing to the height of 12 ft.in the Neelgherry 
Mountains in the Himalaya; introduced in 1820. The flowers are very small, yellow, and appear 
in June and July ; and the berries are from 2- to 3-seeded. 
% 6. R.t1ncTO‘RIUS Waldst. The Dyer’s Buckthorn. 
Identification. Waldst. et Kit. Pl. Rar. Hung., 3. p. 255. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 24; Don's Mill., 2. 
hole 
Soong R. cardiospérmus Willd. Herb. 
Engravings. Wayne Abild., t. 97., and our fig. 199. 
Spec. Char., $c. Erect. Leaves ovate, crenate-ser- 
rated. Petioles villous. Flowers crowded, dicecious. 
Berries obcordate, 3- to 4-seeded. (Don’s Mill., ii. 
p. 31.) A deciduous shrub, a native of Hungary, in 
hedges, where it grows to the height of 8 ft. Intro- 
duced in 1820. The flowers, which are produced 
in May and June, are of a greenish yellow, and the 
berries and inner bark are used for dyeing. A plant 
of this species, in the garden of the London Hor- 
ticultural Society, was, in 1834, 3 ft. high, after being 7 years planted. 


