THE BUCKTHOENS. 



Rham'nus catliar'ticus L. and li. Frangula L. 



The Family Rham'nece, which is not a large one, 

 belongs mainly to the Warmer Temperate Zone, and 

 consists chiefly ot shrubs or small trees. Not a 

 few of its members have their branches, like those 

 of our common Buckthorn, terminated in spines, to 

 which, of course, our species owe the second syllable 

 of their names. 



The leaves in all the Family are simple in outline 

 and stalked, and there are two minute stipules at the 

 base of each leaf-stalk. 



The flowers are invariably small and generally 

 green or yellow, and would be individually insigni- 

 ficant ; but they are often massed together and 

 contain honey, so that, unlike those of the true forest 

 trees, they have their pollen carried by bees and other 

 insects, and not by the wind. As in the Spindle-tree 

 and its allies, there is a tendency in these flowers for 

 the parts in each whorl to be reduced from the 

 typical five to four, so that there are four sepals, four 

 petals, four stamens, and often four chambers to the 

 fruit ; and the green sepals are commonly larger than 

 the petals between them ; but one of the main tech- 

 nical distinctions between the two Orders is that, 

 whilst the sepals of the Spindle-tree overlap, those of 

 the Buckthorn Family touch in the bud without 

 doing so, or are, as it is termed, "valvate." The 



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