SMALL TREES, SHRUBS, AND COPPICE. 53 



covered with a dense coating of stellate hairs, which 

 give the shrub a hoary or mealy appearance. The 

 Dutch are said to have named this the Geldersche 

 Roose, because they had it from Guelderland. 



The BUCKTHORN 1 is almost exclusively a hedge 

 plant, but the Alder Buckthorn 2 is not uncommon in 

 some woods, although totally absent from others. It 

 is certainly local in its distribution. There are several 

 species of Rhamnus, or buckthorn, more or less cul- 

 tivated, but the above are the only kinds we have 

 seen in woods. All of these contain a large amount 

 of colouring matter, both in the bark and the berries, 

 so that both are employed in dyeing. The yellow 

 berries, or Turkey berries, imported into this country 

 from the Levant, as a dye, are produced by two 

 kinds of Rhamnus, which do not fruit here. The 

 small, greenish-white flowers of this shrub are said to 

 be particularly grateful to bees ; the name of/rangula 

 is said to be applied to it because of the brittleness of 

 its branches, but why it should be called the alder 

 buckthorn is not so clear, as it does not resemble the 

 alder in any feature. 



The Box-TREE 3 was formerly much more common 

 with us than now. In the time of Gerarde it was 

 said to grow upon sundry waste and barren hills in 

 England. And Parkinson states that in the time 

 of Charles I. it was found with us in many woods. 

 Boxwell, in Gloucestershire, was so named from the 

 box ; and Box-hill had its origin from the same plant. 



1 Rhammis catharticus. 3 Buxus semperuirens . 



2 Rhamnu* frangula. 



