BOXTHORN. 



LYCIUM. 



SOLANE^S. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



French, Liciet; Italian, Licio. 



THE European Boxthorn, Lycium Europ&um, is a 

 native of the South of Europe ; it grows about ten feet 

 high ; the flowers are of a dull purple ; the leaves are 

 spear-shaped, and the berries dark red. Ray found it 

 about Montpelier, flowering both in March and autumn. 



Clusius says, the Spaniards eat the young shoots with 

 oil and vinegar. 



In Tuscany, this shrub is used for hedges, and is 

 generally known by the name of Spina di Crucifisso, 

 being one of the many thorny shrubs supposed to have 

 afforded the crown of thorns which was put upon the 

 head of Christ before the crucifixion. Some pains, how- 

 ever, have been taken to show that the crown was used 

 in mere derision, and not with an intention to inflict 

 bodily pain. The plant now called Christ's Thorn is 

 an unarmed species of Rhamnus. 



The Tartarian Boxthorn, Lycium Tataricum, has an 

 elegant appearance on account of the whiteness of the 

 branches ; it is armed with awl-shaped spines, surrounded 

 at their base with leaves and flowers. The flower is 

 white, with a purple border, and is succeeded by a black 

 and succulent berry, about the size of a currant. 



