a2 SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. RHAMNACES. 
Brazil,’ and the Canary Islands,’ and in northern, tropical, and southern Africa.* About eighteen 
species inhabit North America, most of them being confined to the region south of the United States. 
Of the five species indigenous to the United States two belong to the Atlantic flora, and two to the 
Pacific flora, while one ranges across the continent. 
The fruit and bark of Rhamnus are drastic, and yield yellow and green dyes. From the fruit of 
Rhamaus cathartica,* a native of Europe and now naturalized in some parts of eastern America, a syrup 
possessing strong purgative properties is prepared,’ while its bark is used for dyeing yellow. The fruit 
of the European 72. infectoria and of several allied species yields valuable dyes, and has considerable 
commercial importance. f. tinctoria,’ a shrub of southeastern Europe and of China, and R. Da- 
vurica™ furnish the China green*® of commerce. The bark of the North American R. Purshiana is a 
powerful purgative, and the bark of A. Frangula® is used in dyeing yellow, while its soft porous wood 
is prized in the manufacture of gunpowder, and its fruit is employed in veterinary practice.” A. cathar- 
tica has for centuries been a common hedge-plant in northern Europe and in the northern United 
States, and several varieties differing from the wild plant in habit and in the color of the fruit have 
appeared in gardens." 
The generic name is derived from (duvoc, the classical Greek name of the Buckthorn. 
1 Reissek, Martius Fl. Brasil. xi.,i. 91, t. 24, £. 9, t. 29. 
2 Webb & Berthelot, Phytogr. Canar. ii. 2, 130, t. 67. 
8 Ball, Jour. Linn. Soc. xvi. 391.— Oliver, Fl. Trop. Afr. i. 
381. — Harvey & Sonder, Fl. Cap. i. £76. 
* Linneus, Spec. 193. — De Candolle, Prodr. ii. 24. — Trelease, 
Trans. St. Louis Acad. v. 365. — Watson & Coulter, Gray’s Man. 
ed. 6, 112. 
5 Woodville, Med. Bot. ii. 312, t. 114.— Fliickiger & Hanbury, 
Pharmacographia, 139.— U. S. Dispens. ed. 14, 759.—Stillé & 
Maisch, Nat. Dispens. ed. 2, 1223. — Millspaugh, Am. Med. Pl. in 
Homeopathic Remedies, i. 41, t. 41.— Maisch, Organic Mat. Med. 
ed. 4, 323. 
6 Waldstein & Kitaibel, Pl. Rar. Hung. iii. 283, t. 255. — Bois- 
sier, Fl. Orient. ii. 18.— Forbes & Hemsley, Jour. Linn. Soc. xxiii. 
129 (R. chlorophora, Decaisne, Compt. Rend. xl. 1140). 
7 Pallas, Fl. Ross. ii. 24, t. 61. — Ledebour, Fi. Ross. i. 502. — 
Forbes & Hemsley, J. c. 128 (R. utilis, Decaisne, J. c.). 
8 Rondot, Notice du Vert de Chine et de la Teinture en vert chez 
les Chinois. 
9 Linneus, Spec. 193. — De Candolle, Prodr. ii. 26. 
10 Baillon, Hist. Pl. vi. 69. 
1 Duhamel, Trait des Arbres, ii. 214, t. 50. — Loudon, Ard. Brit. 
ii, 531. 
CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES. 
EurHamnus. Flowers polygamo-diecious ; seed grooved on the back; raphe dorsal; cotyledons foliaceous ; winter-buds 
scaly. 
Fruit red; nutlets dehiscent ; leaves persistent . 
1. R. crocea. 
FRANGULA. Flowers perfect; seed rounded on the back; raphe lateral; cotyledons thick and 
fleshy ; winter-buds naked. 
Peduncles shorter than the petioles; leaves deciduous . 
Peduncles much longer than the petioles; leaves deciduous or subpersistent 
2. R. CAROLINIANA. 
3. R. PURSHIANA. 
