R H A 



R II A 



and when the plants are strong enough to trans- 

 plant, be pricked out upon another moderate hot- 

 bed to bring them forward, having a large share of 

 air in warm weather to prevent tlieir drawing 

 up weak. Or they may be sown in pots of 

 light mould and plunged in the hot-bed, which 

 is probably the better practice. In the first 

 mode, about the end of May the plants may lie 

 planted out, some into pots, to place in or near 

 the apartments, and others into warm borders, 

 where they may remain to flov^'er and seed. The 

 plants which grow in the full ground often 

 produce more seeds than those which are in pots; 

 but at the time when the seed-vessels begin to 

 swell, the plants are frequently apt to be infest- 

 ed with green caterpillars, which, if they are 

 not destroyed, eat off all the seed-vessels. 



When the seeds are sown on a bed of light 

 earth in April, the plants come up very well ; and 

 when not transplanted, grow larger than those 

 which are raised in the hot-bed; but they do not 

 fiower so early, and in cold seasons scarcely 

 ripen their seeds. In a warm dry border, how- 

 ever, the seeds often come up spontaneously, 

 and grow very luxuriantly : but to have the 

 flowers early in spring, the seeds should be 

 sovi'n in pots in autunni, being kept in frames 

 through the winter, or on a gentle hot-bed in 

 spring. The plants may also be preserved 

 through the winter in a green-house, where they 

 continue flowering most part of the year, but the 

 second year they are not so vigorous as in the first. 



It is cultivated for the fine fragrant smell 

 which it affords. 



REST HARROW. See Ononis. 



RHAMNUS, a genus furnishing plants of 

 the tree and shrub kmds. 



ft belongs to the class and order Ptntandria 

 Mo7iogynia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 DumosiT. 



The characters are : that there is no calyx, 

 unless the corolla be taken for it : the corolla is 

 an imperforate petal, externally rude, internally 

 coloured, funnel-form : tube turbinate-cylindri- 

 cal : border spreading, divided, acute: scalelets 

 five, very small, each at the base of each divi- 

 sion of the border, converging : the stamina 

 have as many filaments as there are segments 

 of the corolla, awl-shaped, inserted into the pe- 

 tal under the scalelet. Anthers small : the pis- 

 tillum is a roundish germ. Style filiform, the 

 length of the stamens. Stigma blunt, divided 

 into fewer segments than the corolla; the peri- 

 carpium is a roundish berry, naked, divided 

 into fewer parts internally than the corolla : the 

 seeds solitary, roundish, gibbous on one side, 

 flatted on the other. 



The species cultivated are : l. 7?. catharticus, 



Purging Buckthorn ; 2. S. colulrimif!, Pubes- 

 cent Rhamnus, or Buckthorn — Htdwooil ; 3. 

 R. frangula. Alder Buckthorn, or Berrv-bear- 

 ing Alder; 4. R. palUmis, Common Christ's- 

 thorn ; 5. R. alalenius. Common Alaternus ; 

 6. R. jujula, Blunt-ieaved Buckthorn; 7. R, 

 oevopUa, Pointed-leaved Buckthorn ; 8. R. 

 zizyphus, Shining-leaved Buckthorn, or Com- 

 mon Jujube; 9. R. Spma Christi, Syrian 

 Christ's-thorn. 



'J'he first rises with a strong woody stem to the 

 height of twelve or fourteen feet, sending oui 

 many irregular branches : the young shoots 

 have a smooth grayish -brown bark ; "but the 

 older branches a darker and rougher bark, and 

 are arnjed with afew short thorns. The leaves 

 are two inches and a half long, by one and a 

 quarter broad, dark green above but pale or 

 light green beneath, having a pretty strong mid- 

 rib, and several nerves proceeding from it, which 

 diverge towards the sides, hut meet asrain near 

 the point : they stand upon pretty Ions'' slender 

 footstalks. The flowers come out in clusters 

 from the side of the branches: those of the male 

 have as many stamens as there are divisions in 

 the petal ; those of the female (or hermaphro- 

 dite) have a roundish germ, which afterwards 

 becomes a pulpy berry of a roundish form, in- 

 closing four hard seeds. It is a native of Europe, 

 flowering from the end of April to June, and 

 ripening its berries about the end of September. 



It is found that the juice of the unripe berries 

 has the colour of saffron, and is used for stain- 

 ing maps or paper, being sold under the name 

 of French berries : the juice of the ripe berries 

 mixed with alum, is the sap-green of the paint- 

 ers ; but if the berries be gathered late in the 

 autumn, the juice is purple. The bark affords a 

 beautiful yellow dye. 



The second species is an upright tree, with 

 most of the branches spreading out horizontally. 

 The twigs, petioles, peduncles, lower surface 

 of the leaves, and outer surface of the calyx, are 

 covered with a slight ferruginous nap. The 

 leaves are oblong-ovate, acute, entire, the upper 

 surface smooth and shininsj, alternate, for the 

 most part distich. The racemes short, co- 

 rymbed, axillary, seven-flo.vered or thereabouts. 

 The flowers are without scent, all pointing up- 

 wards, with greenish scales. It is a native of 

 several islands in the West Indies, where it 

 flowers in January, June, and November, but 

 here in June. 



The third rises with a woody stem to the 

 height of ten or twelve feet, sendmg out n)any 

 irregular branches, covered with a dark bark. 

 The leaves are ovate-lanceolate, about two 

 inches long and an inch broad, having several 



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