192 SEA BUCKTHORN: BLACKTHORN 



rather prominent leaf-bases bearing minute semi-lunate 

 or ellipsoid leaf-scars, each with a single minute leaf-trace 

 (Fig. 59 s). They are often thorny dwarf-shoots each with 

 a bud on its base, or bearing clusters of buds. The twigs 

 pass from matt-silvery to glistening olive or dark reddish 

 brown. 



Pith brownish, irregularly angular. No other similarly 

 shaped buds like a heart are known to me. The bronz- 

 ing is due to peltate scale-like hairs. 



The only similar plant, likely to be encountered in 

 gardens, is Elceagnus angustifolia. Its stellate scales are 

 shown in Fig. 55 e. 



** Buds and twigs not bronzed, the former 

 not lobed, very small, rounded, and the 

 latter not angular or nodose : branch- 

 thorns rigid and hard, usually bearing 

 several buds and leaf -scars, the latter 

 with more than one leaf-trace bundle. 



t Shoots pubescent, twigs when fully ripened 

 shining brownish black; leaf-scars very small 

 and rounded ; buds minute and often aggre- 

 gated side by side in groups of three. 



Prunus spinosa, L. Sloe, Blackthorn (Fig. 96). Buds 

 about 1 1*5 mm. long, sub-globular, and glabrous, the 

 shoots often greyish ; twigs red-brown or, owing to the 

 epidermis, greyish, passing towards black. Twigs slim 

 and rigid, much and stiffly branched. Bud-scales nearly 

 glabrous, brown-red, pale or dark. Dwarf-shoots densely 

 ringed and often crowded with groups of buds. The nearly 

 elliptical leaf-scar generally shows three approximated 

 leaf- trace bundles (Fig. 59 q). 



P. insititia, with stouter and more pubescent shoots 

 and buds, and P. domestica, thornless and with browner 



