IVY. BUCKTHORN. 63 



EDWARD. 



But are not there two kinds of ivy growing on 

 the old church? 



MOTHER. 



Although the leaves are different, they belong in 

 reality to the same plant. When the ivy trails on 

 the ground, the branches are small and weak, and 

 the leaves have three divisions; but when it climbs 

 up walls or trees, the plant grows much stronger, 

 and the figure of the leaf is changed to egg-shaped. 

 The roots of the common ivy make beautiful cups 

 and boxes, and I have seen even tables made of 

 them. 



The Buckthorn, Rham'nus cathar'ticus, which 

 belongs to the same class and order, grows wild in 

 woods and hedges in various parts of Europe. 

 The unripe fruit is sold under the name of French 

 berries, and affords a juice which is used for staining 

 maps and paper yellow. The juice of the ripe 

 berries, mixed with alum, forms the sap-green 

 employed by painters ; and if the berries are ga- 

 thered late in autumn, their juice is purple. The 

 bark of the stem dyes a beautiful yellow colour. 

 The unripe fruit of another species, the yellow- 

 berried Buckthorn, Rham'nus infecto'rius, a native 

 of the south of Europe, is said to give the yellow 

 colour to Turkey or Morocco leather. 



In Africa, the negroes make bread of a sweet 



