80 RHAMNACE^K. (BUCKTHORN FAMILY.) 



2. K. IsinceoIfltllS, Pursh. Leaves oblong-lanceolate and acute, 01 on 

 flowering shoots oblong and obtuse, finely serrulate, smooth or minutely downy 

 beneath ; petals deeply notched ; fruit 2-seedcd. Hills and river-banks, Penn. 

 (Merccrsburg, Prof. Green) to Illinois, and southward. May. — Shrub tall, 

 not thorny ; the j'ellowish-grecn flowers occurring under two forms, both com- 

 monly perfect : one with the short pedicels clustered in the axils and with long 

 styles ; the other, and more fruitful, with the pedicels often cr solitary, and the 

 style very short. 



* * Lobes of the calyx and stamens 5 : petals wanting. 



3. IS. alsisfolilts, L'Her. Leaves oval, acute, serrate, nearly straight- 

 veined : fruit 3-seeded. — Swamps, Maine to Penn. and Illinois, northward. 

 June. — Shrub 1 ° - 4° high. 



3. FKANGULA, Tourn. Alder-Buckthorn. 



Seeds not grooved or concave (but convex) on the back. Cotyledons plane, 

 large and thick. Flowers perfect; the lobes of the calyx, petals, and stamens 

 almost always 5. Leaves with nearly straight and parallel veins. Otherwise as 

 in Rhamnus. (Name from frango, to break, in allusion to the brittlencss of the 

 stems.) 



1. F. Caroliliis'sBia, 'Gray. Thornless; leaves (3'-4' long) oblong, 

 obscurely serrulate, nearly glabrous, deciduous ; peduncle of the small umbel of 

 flowers very short; drupe spherical, 3-seeded. — River-banks, Virginia, Ken- 

 tucky, and southward. June. — A tall shrub. 



4. CEAIOTHUS, L. New Jersey Tea. Red-Root. 



Calyx 5-lobed ; the lobes colored and incurved ; the lower part with the thick 

 disk cohering with the ovary, the upper separating across in fruit. Petals hood- 

 form, spreading, on slender claws longer than the calyx. Filaments also elon- 

 gated. Fruit 3-lobed, dry and splitting into its 3 carpels when ripe. Seed as in 

 Frangula. — Shrubby plants ; the flowers in little umbel-like clusters, which are 

 crowded in dense panicles or corymbs at the summit of naked flower-branches : 

 calyx and pedicels colored like the petals. (A name of Theophrastus, of un- 

 known meaning and application.) 



1. C Amei'iCiSBius, L. (New Jersey Tea.) Leaves ovate or ob- 

 long-ovate, 3-ribbed, serrate, downy beneath, often heart-shaped at the base; 

 common peduncles elongated. — Dry woodlands. July. — An undershrub, 1° - 

 3° high from a dark red root, varying exceedingly : branches downy. Flowers 

 in pretty white clusters. — The leaves were used as a substitute for tea during 

 the American Revolution. 



2. C. OV&liS, Bigelow. Leaves narrowly oval or elliptical-lanceolate, 

 finely glandular-serrate, glabrous or nearly so, as well as the short common pe- 

 duncles. — Dry rocks, W. Vermont to Wisconsin, and westward. May. — A 

 handsome low shrub, with the white flowers larger than in No. 1, more 

 corymbed, and narrower smooth leaves, mostly acute at both ends. It also 

 varies greatly. 



