KAPHIOLEPIS RHAMNUS 



329 



a handsome shrub, well worth growing for the sake of its pure white, 

 scented blossoms. Propagated by seeds, or cuttings made of half-ripened 

 shoots. R. DELACOURI is a pink variety or perhaps a hybrid. 



R. IN Die A, Lindley 

 (R. salicifolia), is some- 

 times given a place on 

 a warm wall. It has 

 narrow, toothed, lan- 

 ceolate leaves, 2 or 3 

 ins. long ; and short, 

 terminal, very pretty 

 racemesofwhiteflowers 

 tinged, especially to- 

 wards the Centre, with 

 pink. A more graceful 

 shrub than R. japonica, 

 but not so hardy. 

 Native of China. Ra- 

 phiolepis is allied to 

 Photinia. 



RHAMNUS. 

 BUCKTHORN. 

 RHAMNACE/E. 



There are few 

 groups of trees and 

 shrubs comprising so 

 many hardy species as 

 Rhamnus that possess 

 so little garden value. 

 They have scarcely 

 any beauty of flower, the blossoms being small, and either green, 

 yellowish green, or brownish. The fruits are more striking, being often 

 very abundant and reddish when approaching ripeness. When fully 

 ripe they are usually black or very dark purple. 



The genus contains about sixty species of evergreen or deciduous 

 trees and shrubs, the hardy ones widely spread over northern temperate 

 latitudes. The leaves are normally alternate, but occasionally opposite ; 

 the flowers perfect or unisexual, with the sexes on the same or separate 

 trees. Flowers with a four- or five-lobed calyx and the same number of 

 petals and stamens; petals sometimes absent. Fruit a drupe, roundish 

 or top-shaped, usually from \ to \ in. in diameter, enclosing two to four 

 seeds. Good ordinary distinguishing features of the buckthorns are : 

 the number of veins of the leaf, and whether they are parallel or con- 

 verging; the absence or presence of marginal teeth; the arrangement 

 of the flowers, whether in stalked or stalkless clusters; and, the presence 

 or absence of spines at the tips of the side twigs. Various members 

 of the genus yield yellow or green dyes, and most of them have laxative 

 or purgative properties in bark and fruit. 



II Y 



EAPHIOLEPIS JAPONICA. 



