RHAMNE^ 



Flowers green, dioecious, honey-scented, in a short axillary raceme ; Fruit a 

 drupe. 



Leaves alternate, ovate-elliptical or lanceolate, very variable, slightly toothed, 

 glabrous, coriaceous, deep glossy green. 



An evergreen shrub, or small tree, 20 ft. 



Introduced from S. Europe, 1629. Leaves sometimes attacked by Buck- 

 thorn Leaf-spot {Phyllosticta Rhami). 



PURGING BUCKTHORN, Bhamnus cathartica. 



Woods, thickets, hedges. Prefers chalky soils. May, June. 



Flozvcrs yellowish-green, dioecious, small, entomophilous, proterandrous, soli- 

 tary or in axillary cymose clusters, on previous year's wood ; pedicels short ; Calyx 

 4-cleft, valvate ; campanulate in males, cupular in females ; Petals 4, very 

 narrow, as large as calyx teeth ; Stamens 4, on perigynous disk, opposite 

 petals ; Ovarii superior, 4-celled, stigmas 4 ; Fruit a drupe, about size of pea, 

 globose, enclosing four small 1 -seeded nuts, blue-black; ripe in September; 

 seeds obovoid, grooved at back. 



Leaves alternate, fascicled at ends of shoots, sub-opposite lower down, ovate 

 or oblong, shortly petiolate, minutely serrated, acuminate, veins prominent, di- 

 vergent, yellowish-green, young ones downy beneath, 1-2 ins. long; stipules 

 subulate, deciduous. Autumn tint yellowish-green. 



A deciduous shrub, 5-10 ft. ; Branches spreading, opposite, smaller ones with 

 terminal thorns ; Bark black ; Dwarf shoots strongly ringed ; Buds erect, sub- 

 opposite, ovate-pointed, dark brown to blackish ; scales smooth ciliate ; Lenticels 

 large ; Wood hard ; heart-wood reddish-yellow, sap-wood whitish-yellow ; used 

 for turnery ; juice of berries used for sap-green of painters ; bark yields 

 yellow dye. 



Native of Britain. English name said to be a corruption of German Biuvdorn, 

 the Thorn-bearing Box ; Rhamnos was old Greek name used by Theophrastus ; 

 specific name is Latin for purging, or purgative. 



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