114 RIIAMNACK^. (buckthorn FAMILY.) 



Ovules solitary, anatropons. Stigmas 2 - 5. Embryo large, wiUi broad 

 cotyledons, in sparing fleshy albumen. — Flowers often polygamous, some- 

 times dia'cious. Leaves mostly alternate : stipules small or obsolete. 

 Branches often thorny. (Slightly bitter and astringent : the fruit often 

 mucilaginous, commonly rather nauseous or drastic.) 



» Calyx and disk free from the ovary. 



1. Berclieinia. Petals sessile, entire, as long as the calyx. Drupe with thin flesh and a 



'i-celleil bony j>utiimen. 



2. Rhaninus. Petals small, short-clawed, notched, or none. Drupe berry-like, with the 



2-4 separate seed-like nutlets concave on the back : cotyledons leaf-like, revolute. 



3. Fran|;ula. Petals, &c. as in No. 2. Seed-like nutlets convex on the back: cotyledons 



flat, fleshy. 



♦ * Calyx with the disk adherent to the base of the ovary. 



4. Ceanothu8. Petals long-clawed, hooded. Fruit dry, at length dehiscent. 



1. BERCHEMIA, Neeker. SriTLE-jAcic. 



Calyx with a very short and roundisli tube ; its lobes C(iualling the 5 oblong 

 sessile acute petals, longer than the stamens. Disk very thick and flat, filling 

 the calyx-tube and covering the ovary. Drupe oblong, with thin flesh and a 

 bony 2-celled putamen. — Woody high-climbing twiners, with the pinnate veins 

 of the leaves straight and parallel, the small grcenish-wbite flowers in small 

 panicles. (Name unexplained, probably jjersonal.) 



1. B. VOlubilis, DC. Glabrous; leaves oblong-ovate, acute, scarcely 

 serrulate; style short. — Damp soils, Virginia, and southward. June. — As- 

 cending tall trees. Stems toug-b and very lithe, whence the popular name. 



2. RHAMNUS, Tuurn. Blcktiiorn. 



Calyx 4 - 5-cleft ; the tube campannlate, lined with the disk. Petals small, 

 short-clawed, notched at the end, wrapped around the short stamens, or some- 

 times none. Ovary free, 2-4-celled. Drupe berry-like (blackj, containing 2- 

 4 separate seed-like nutlets, of cartilaginous texture, which are grooved on 

 the back, as is the contained seed. Cotyledons foliaceous, the margins revolute. 

 — Shrubs or small trees, with loosely pinnatcly veined leaves, and greenish 

 polygamous or dioecious flowers, in axillary clusters. (The ancient Greek 

 name, from the numerous branchlets.) 



* Tjobes of the ca/i/.r, petnls, and stamens 4. 



1. R. cathArtici's, L. (Co^imon nicKTUORN.) Leaves orate, minutely 

 serrate; J'mit S-4-seedefl; branchlets thorny. — Cultivated for hedges; spar- 

 ingly naturalized eastward. May, June. (Nat. from Eu.) 



2. R. laneeolatUS, Pursh. leaves obloivj-lanroohite and acute, or on flow- 

 ering shoots oblong and obtuse, finely serrulate, suiootli or n)inutely downy 

 beneath; petals deeply notched ; _//«/< 2-seeded. Hills and liverbanks, Penn. 

 (Mcrcersburg, Prof. Green) to Illinois, and westward. May. — Shrub tall, not 

 thorny ; the yellowish-green fiowcrs of two forms on distinct plants, both per- 

 fect : one with the short pedicels clustered in the axils and with a short in- 

 cluded style ; the other with the pedicels oftener solitary, the style longer and 

 cxserted. 



