P EN TAN D . MONOfi . 81 



Spreading shrub. Petals very small. Stigmas 4-lobed. Flowers much 

 clustered on short footstalks, yellow green. Berries black, nauseous, 

 strongly cathartic j they afford a yellow dye in an unripe state, as 

 does the bark a green dye, when mature. 



2. Rh. Frangula (Berry -beat ing Alder), unarmed, flowers per- 

 fect, leaves obovate smooth entire. E. B. t. 260. 



HAB. Cullum-wood, near Auchincruive, Ayrshire, Mr. Smith. FL 

 May. f? . 



Small shrub. Flowers small, few, two or three together, axillary, on 

 longish footstalks, whitish green. Petah very minute, as well as 

 the stam. Berries dark purple with two seeds, purgative. 



31. EUONYMUS. 



1. E. europceus (Spindle Tree), flowers mostly tetrandrous > pe- 

 duncles compressed many-flowered, leaves ovato-Janceolate on 

 short footstalks, branches smooth. Lightf.p.\45. E.B.t.362. 



HAB. Woods and hedges in many places, according to Sibbald but 

 I found it not myself, Lightf. King's Park, Edinb. and near Craig- 

 millar Castle, Maugh. Fl. May. J? . 



Shrub 3 5 feet high : bark green, smooth. Leaves opposite, gla- 

 brous, serrated. Panicles forked. Flowers small, white. Cal. seg- 

 ments and petals 4 or 5. Stam. upon glands in the disk of the 

 cal. Fruit 5 -angled, but much less acutely so than in E. latifolius. 

 Berries and even leaves said to be dangerous. Of the tough wood 

 skewers are made, and Linnaeus says it forms the best charcoal for 

 drawing. 



32. RIBES. 



* Without thorns. 



1. R. rubrnm (common Currant], without thorns erect, racemes 

 glabrous pendulous, flowers nearly plane, petals obtuse. 



HAB. Isle of Isla among brushwood, on the banks of the Sound, Lightf. 



Culross woods, Maugh. Fl. May. f? . 

 Leaves 5-lobed, doubly serrated, on longish footstalks; a small scale 



or bractea at the base of each pedicel. Flowers greenish. Fruit 



red, crowned with the withered cal. 



2. R. petrceum (Rock Currant}, without thorns erect, racemes 

 when in flower erect in fruit pendulous slightly downy, flowers 

 nearly plane, petals bluntish, bracteas shorter than the pe- 

 dicel.' E. B. I. 705. 



HAB. Woods near Airly-castle, by the river-side, G, Don. FL May. T? . 



Leaves as in the last species, but a little downy beneath. Differs from 

 R. spicatiim in having the fruit pendulous j but Smith doubts him- 

 self if that character is permanent. Berries red. 



3. R. aljrinum (tasteless Mountain Currant), without thorns 

 erect, racemes erect both in flower and fruit, flowers plane 

 shorter than the bracteas, leaves shining beneath. Lightf. p. 146. 

 E.B.Y.704. 



HAB. Woods and fissures of rocks, Dr. Parsons. FL May. T^ . 



G 



