76 RHAMXACE^E. (BUCKTHORN FAMILY.) 



Drupe 1-celled, 1-seeded, the seed not grooved. Mostly spiny trees or shrubs, 

 with short-petioled leaves, and small clustered axillary flowers. 



1. C. ferrea, Griseb. Unarmed; branchlets puberuleut; leaves oval or 

 ulilong, obtuse or emarginate, entire, smooth; umbel-like clusters few- flow- 

 ered, sessile or short-peduncled ; calyx lobes 4, ovate, acute ; stamens 4 ; 

 stigma 2-lobed ; drupe globose. (Scutia ferrea, Brongn.) Coast and Keys 

 of South Florida. A small tree. Leaves thick, l'-2' long. 



2. REYNOSIA, Griseb. 



Calyx urceolate, 5-cleft. Stamens 5. Ovary free, 1-celled, 1-ovuled. 

 Drupe baccate. Seed large, with ruminated albumen. Otherwise like 

 Condalia. 



1 . R. latifolia, Griseb. Leaves pale, coriaceous, alternate or opposite, 

 elliptical or obovate, emarginate; flowers axillary, short-pedicelled ; calvx- 

 tube 5-angled, the lobes ovate; stigma 2-lobed; drupe ovoid. (Scutia ferrea, 

 1st edition.) South Florida. A small tree, or shrub. Leaves 1', or less, 

 long. Drupe tf long. 



3. BERCHEMIA, Neck. SUPPLE-JACK. 



Calyx 5-cleft, the tube hemispherical. Petals 5, sessile, concave, as long as 

 the calyx. Ovary free, 2-celled, half immersed in the fleshy disk. Stvles 

 iiniif.l. Stigmas 2. Drupe oblong, 2-celled, 2-seeded. Erect or twining 

 shrulis, with alternate pinnately veined leaves, with minute stipules, and small 

 greenish axillary or panicled flowers. 



1 . B. volubilis, DC. Stem twining ; leaves oblong, acute, wavy on the 

 margins, glossy above, the simple veins oblique ; flowers in small terminal 

 panicles; drupe purple. Swamps, Florida to North Carolina, and westward. 

 May- June. 



4. SAGERETIA, Brongn. 



Calyx 5-cleft, the tube hemispherical, the lobes carinate within. Petals 

 obovate, shorter than the calyx, concave. Ovary free, 3-celled. Stigmas 3, 

 nearly sessile. Drupe baccate, composed of three even 1-seeded indehiscent 

 nutlets. Seeds not grooved. Cotyledons flat. Slender trailing shrubs, with 

 opposite branches and leaves, and minute whitish spiked flowers. 



1. S Michauxii, Brongu. Stem vine-like (6 -18 long), with spine- 

 like spreading branches; leaves (T long) nearly sessile, ovate or oblong-ovate, 

 acute, finely serrate, smooth and shining, persistent ; spikes slender, inter- 

 rupted, mostly panicled; petals minute ; drupe dark purple, globose. (Rham- 

 nus miuutiflorus, Michx.) Dry sandy soil along the coast, Florida to North 

 Carolina. Sept. Drupes pleasantly acid. 



5. RHAMNUS, Tourn. BUCKTHORN. 



Calyx 4-5 cleft, the tube urceolate, lined with a thin disk. Petals small, 

 obovate, concave, often wanting. Ovary free, 2 - 4-celled. Styles united be- 

 low. Stigmas 2 -4. Drupe baccate, composed of 2 -4 somewhat dehiscent 



