1326 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART III. 



but 3 francs ; specimens were formerly sold at 60 francs each, and one of those 

 first discovered was sold for 200 francs." {Spencc in Mag. Nat. Hid., vol. iv., 

 for 1830, p. 1+8.) A shrub so common throughout Europe and Asia could 

 not escape being known to the Greeks and Romans ; but to what use they 

 applied it is uncertain. In modern times, its leaves form the food of sheep, in 

 poor maritime pastures, where the sheep sometimes also eat the berries. In 

 Dauphiny, a decoction is made of these berries, which is used for the same pur- 

 pose as that made from the berries of the iblanum Dulcamara, in Wales ; 

 viz., to remove cutaneous eruptions. According to Pallas, the berries of 

 the sea buckthorn are gratefully acid, and are much eaten by the Tartars, 

 who make a jelly or preserve of them, and serve them up with milk or 

 cheese, as great dainties. The fishermen of the Gulf of Bothnia prepare a 

 rob, or jam, from them, which imparts a grateful flavour to fresh fish; and a 

 kind of sauce is also made from them in the south of France. In some 

 parts of France and Switzerland they are considered poisonous. J. J. Rous- 

 seau, in his Reverie du Promeneur Solitaire, vii. Promenade, relates a curious 

 story respecting his having made a botanical excursion in the neighbourhood 

 of Grenoble, with a local botanist, who, though he saw him eating the 

 fruit, which he knew, or believed to be, poisonous, was so polite, or regarded 

 Rousseau with so much respect, that he durst not presume to warn him of 

 his danger. In Britain, and on the Continent, the sea buckthorn is some- 

 times planted as hedges ; and, as it endures the sea breeze, and throws up suck- 

 ers freely from the roots, it is a useful plant for fixing drift sands, along with the 

 grasses Psamma, £"lymus, Carex, <!tc., and also for producing woody scenery 

 in marine situations, where few other trees or shrubs will grow. In pleasure- 

 grounds, when trained to a single stem, it forms a small, durable, and very 

 interesting tree, from the dull pewter-like tinge of its foliage in summer, and the 

 fine effect of its berries in autumn ; but it must be recollected that the berries 

 will not be produced unless both sexes are planted contiguously. As the 

 flowers, especially those of the male plants, come out very early in the season, 

 their buds, which are in spikes, have a conspicuous appearance during winter, 

 and contrast finely with the fruit on the female plants, which remains on 

 through the winter, after the leaves drop off, unless it is eaten by birds. 

 In British nurseries, plants are com- 

 monly increased by suckers, which 

 are produced in abundance ; and a 

 deep sandy soil is suitable for grow- 

 ing the plant to a large size. It may 

 be planted in elevated and exposed 

 situations and on the sea coast, where 

 few other trees will grow. 



2*2. H. MLiciFO^LiA D. Don. 

 The Willow-leaved Hippophae, 

 Sea BucJdhorn, or Sallowthorti. 



Identification. Don Prod. Fl. Nep., p. fi8. ; Lodd 



Cat, ed. 1836. 

 Si/nnnyme. H. confirta Wall, in MSS. nf the 

 ' Catalogue qf the Linncvan Society's Indian 



Herbarium, Roylc's Il/ust., p. 323. 

 Engraving. Ourfig. 1207. 



Spec. Char., l^-c. Without thorns, up- 

 right, branched. Leaves lanceolate, 

 obtuse, whitely tomentose, as are 

 the branchlets. A native of Siri- 

 nagur, in Nepal, whence it was 

 introduced in 1822. Judging from 

 the plants in the Horticultural So- 

 ciety's Garden, and in the arbo- '*"' 



return of Messrs. Loddiges, it appears to be a mucii more robust 

 species than H. Rhamnoides, though probably more liable to be injured by 



