66 DICTIONARY OF POPULAR NAMES BUCKTHORN 



H. infectorius, native of Southern Europe and Western Asia, 

 is important on account of its berries, which are about the size 

 of peas, and black when ripe ; gathered green, they constitute 

 an important dye, much used by calico printers. In commerce 

 they are known by the name of Yellow or Persian berries ; 

 the princi]3al importations come from ports in the Black Sea, 

 chiefly from Trebizonde. 



E. cathartictis, the Purging Buckthorn, is indigenous to 

 Britain. It is a stiff-branched shrub, 5 to 10 feet high. It has 

 deciduous, yellowish green, egg-shaped leaves, toothed along the 

 edges, and dense clusters of yellowish green flowers, which pro- 

 duce a crop of little shining black berries about the size of peas ; 

 they were formerly used in medicine as a purgative, and are 

 still prescribed by herb doctors ; Syrup of Buckthorn is, however, 

 a medicine in the British Pharmacopoeia. The pigment called 

 Sap-green, or Bladder-green, is prepared by mixing the fresh 

 juice of the ripe berries with alum, and evaporating to dryness ; 

 it is in common use by water-colour painters ; the juice of the 

 unripe berries is yeUow, and used by map-makers. The bark 

 yields a beautiful yellow dye, and, like the berries, is strongly 

 purgative, and excites vomiting. 



B. Frangula, called the Alder Buckthorn, a stiff' branching 

 shrub 6 to 8 feet high, or sometimes with a single stem, assum- 

 ing the character of a small tree, native of this country, and, 

 with the last, growing in woods and uncultivated grounds. The 

 bark of the branches and roots contain a yellow dye. Its 

 greatest importance is that it makes the best charcoal, used for 

 the manufacture of the finest gunpowder, and is known to the 

 gunpowder makers as Dogwood. 



B. Alaternus, an evergreen shrub, with smooth shining leaves, 

 sometimes forming a small tree, attaining the height of 10 to 12 

 feet, native of Southern Europe and I^orthern Africa. It has 

 been introduced and cultivated in tliis country as an ornamental 

 shrub since the beginning of the seventeenth century. 



B. utilis and B. chloropliorus are sln-ubs or small trees, natives 

 of China ; they yield the fine green dye for silk, called " Lo-kao," 



