RHA 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY 



RHA 



459 



aceous, winged. This tree rises with a pliant shrubby stalk 

 to the height of eight or ten feet, sending out many weak 

 tender branches. From the singular appearance of the fruit, 

 like a head with a broad-brimmed hat on, the French call it 

 Porte Ckapeau. Many persons suppose it to be the plant 

 from which the crown of thorns, which was put upon the 

 head of our Saviour, was composed ; the possibility of which 

 is supported by many travellers of credit, who affirm that 

 this is one of the most common shrubs in the country of 

 Judea: and from the pliableness of its branches, which may 

 easily be wrought into any figure, the supposition derives 

 some probability, though Hasselquist alone thinks it was the 

 forty-fifth species. The seeds of this plant ought to be pro- 

 cured from the southern countries of Europe, and to be sown 

 as soon as possible after they arrive, on a bed of light earth, 

 and the plants will come up in the following spring. The 

 seedlings may be transplanted the following season into a 

 nursery, to get strength before they are planted out for good. 

 It may also be propagated by laying down its tender branches 

 in the spring of the year, which, if carefully supplied with 

 water in dry weather, will take root in a year's time, and may 

 then be taken off from the old plant, and transplanted where 

 they are to remain. The best time for transplanting them 

 is in autumn, soon after the leaves decay, or the beginning of 

 April, just before it begins to shoot; observing to lay some 

 mulch upon the ground about their roots, to prevent them 

 from drying, and also to refresh them now and then with a 

 little water, until they have taken fresh root, after which 

 they will require but little care. They are very hardy, and 

 will grow ten or twelve feet high, in a dry soil and warm 

 situation. 



37. Rhamnus Lotas ; The Genuine Lotus. Prickles in 

 pairs, one of them recurved ; leaves ovate, crenate ; fruit 

 round. This is a very branching shrub. It. is the famous 

 Lotus mentioned by Pliny and Polybius : the late Mr. Park 

 describes the fruit as small farinaceous berries, of a yellow 

 colour and delicious taste. The natives of Africa, he says, 

 convert them into bread, by exposing them some days to the 

 sun, and afterwards pounding them gently in a wooden mor- 

 tar until the farinaceous part is separated from the stone. 

 The meal is then mixed with a little water, and formed into 

 cakes, which, when dried in the snn, resemble in colour and 

 flavour the sweetest gingerbread. The stones are afterwards 

 put into a vessel of water, and shaken about so as to sepa- 

 rate the meal which may still adhere to them ; this commu- 

 nicates a sweet and agreeable taste to the water, and, with 

 the addition of a little pounded millet, forms a pleasant gruel 

 called fondi ; which is the common breakfast, in many parts 

 of Ludamar, during the months of February and March. The 

 fruit is collected by spreading a cloth upon the ground, and 

 beating the branches with a stick. Mr. Browne informs us, 

 that the Arabic name of the Lotus is Nebbek, and that there 

 are two species of it in Dar-Fur, the largest of which is 

 called Nebbek-el-arah. The natives eat the fruit fresh or dry, 

 for it dries on the tree, and so remains during great part of 

 the winter months; and in that state is formed into a paste 

 of not unpleasant flavour, and is a portable provision on 

 journeys. This plant is frequent on the banks of the lesser 

 Syrtis, near Cassa, Tozzer, Kerwan, &c. flowering early in 

 the spring, and ripening the fruit in autumn. It has been 

 found at the eastern as well as the western extremity of the 

 African desert ; and it appears that it is disseminated over 

 the edge of the great desert, from the coast of Cyrene round 

 by tripoly and Africa Proper, to the border of the Atlantic, 

 the Senegal, and Niger. Major Rennell saw the same kind 

 of shrub or fruit, or what is exceedingly like it, in Bengal, in 

 VOL. ii. 104. 



dry situations on the banks of the Ganges, where the people 

 eat the fruit as we eat sloes or wild berries. 



38. Rhamnus Napeca. Prickles often in pairs, recurved; 

 peduncles corymbed ; flowers semidigynous ; leaves ovate, 

 oblique, subcrenate, even on both sides. Native of the 

 islands of Ceylon and Amboyna. 



39. Rhamnus Jujuba; Blunt-leaved Buckthorn. Prickles 

 solitary, recurved ; leaves roundish, ovate, blunt, tomeutose 

 underneath ; peduncles aggregate ; flowers semidigynous. 

 The flowers come out in clusters from the wings of the 

 branches, are small, of a yellowish colour, and are succeeded 

 by oval fruit about the size of small olives, inclosing a stone 

 of the same shape. Native of the East Indies, and cultivated 

 in China and Cochin-china. This plant, and the six follow- 

 ing species, are preserved in gardens for the sake of variety, 

 as they do not produce fruit in England. 



40. Rhamnus Xylopyrus ; Sharp-leaved Buckthorn. 

 Prickles solitary, recurved ; leaves subcordate, ovate, sharp- 

 ish, tomentose underneath; corymbs axillary, clustered. 

 This resembles the preceding very much, but the fruit is the 

 size of a cherry, or a little larger, and insipid : the prickles 

 also are fewer. Native of deserts at the feet of mountains in 

 the East Indies. 



41. Rhamnus Oenopha; Pointed-leaved Buckthorn. Prickles 

 solitary, recurved ; leaves half-cordate, acuminate, tomentose 

 underneath ; peduncles aggregate. This is very distinct from 

 its congeners, by the great obliquity of its leaves, which are 

 almost half-cordate, acuminate. Native of Ceylon. 



42. Rhamnus Capensis ; Prickly Cape Buckthorn. Prickles 

 solitary; leaves ovate, cut out, entire, smooth ; umbels axil- 

 lary. Native of the Cape. 



43. Rhamnus Circumcissus ; Prickly East Indian Buck- 

 thorn. Prickles solitary, hooked ; leaves obovate, abrupt, 

 emarginate, entire, smooth ; umbels axillary. Native of the 

 East Indies. 



44. Rhamnus Zizyphus; Shining -leaved Buckthorn, or Com- 

 mon Jujube. Prickles in pairs, one recurved ; leaves ovate, 

 retuse, toothed, smooth; flowers two-styled. This has a 

 woody stalk, dividing into many crooked irregular branches, 

 armed with strong thorns, set by pairs at each joint ; the 

 leaves are two inches long, a,nd one broad, slightly serrate, 

 on short footstalks ; the flowers are produced on the sides of 

 the branches, two or three from the same place, sessile, 

 small, and yellow; the fruit oval, the size of a middling 

 plum, sweetish and clammy, including a hard oblong stone, 

 pointed at both ends. Native of the south of Europe, China, 

 Cochin-china, and Japan. It is sold in the market at Canton 

 during the autumn. In Italy and Spain, it is served up at 

 the table in desserts during winter, as a sweetmeat. Ray 

 saw it in Calabria, growing wild in great abundance. This, 

 the 39th, and next species, may be propagated by putting 

 their stones into pots of fresh light earth soon after their 

 fruits are ripe ; and in winter they should be placed under a 

 common hot-bed frame, where they may be sheltered from 

 severe frost. In the spring, these pots should be plunged 

 into a moderate hot-bed, which will greatly forward the 

 growth of the seed ; and when the plants are come up, they 

 should be inured to the open air by degrees, into which they 

 must be removed in June, placing them near the shelter of 

 a hedge, and watering them frequently in very dry weather. 

 In this situation they must remain till the beginning of Octo- 

 ber, when they must be removed into the green-house, or 

 placed under a hot-bed frame, where they may be defended 

 from frost, but should have as much free air 'as possible in 

 winter during mild weather. In March, just before the 

 plants begin to shoot, they should be transplanted each into 



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