PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 63 



70. EUONYMUS. 



1. E. europaus, branches smooth and even ; leaves ovate-lan- 

 ceolate, on short stalks ; peduncles compressed} many-flowered ; 

 flowers mostly 4-cleft and tetrandrous. Spindle-tree. 



Hob. " Ash-wood, Belford," Thomp. May. \\ 



80. RIBES. 



1. R. grossularia, branches prickly ; leaves rounded and lobed ; 

 stalks single-flowered ; bracteas close together ; segments of the 

 calyx reflexed, shorter than the tube. Gooseberry. 



Hab. Frequent in woods and hedges, where it may have 

 been planted. In a deep glen about one mile south of 

 Fastcastle, Rev. A. Baird. Banks of the Tweed at 

 Hcrncliffe. April. }} 



81. HEDEIIA. 



1. H. helix, leaves some ovate, some lobed. Ivy. 

 Hab. In deans on rocks and trees. Oct. 



It is generally believed that the ivy is extremely injurious 

 to those trees which it entwines and clothes with a ver- 

 dure more beautiful than their own. Hence Prospero, in 

 the " Tempest," says of his brother, 



" He was 



The Ivy, which had hid my princely trunk 

 An ' suck'd my verdure out on't." 



But there is reason to think that the evil effects have 

 been exaggerated, for in general it seldom invests the tree 

 closely until, from age or disease, its vigour has begun to 

 languish. No plant has been a more fertile source to the 

 poet of beautiful imagery or of illustrative similes, but 

 these we need not particularize, since they must be fami- 

 liar to every reader of English poetry. We may, however, 

 transfer to our page the following verses addressed by B. 

 BARTON to Mrs HEMANS, who also has an excellent Ode 

 to the Ivy, since they are correct and descriptive : 



" And can those flowers, that bloom to fade, 



For thee a fitting wreath appear ? 

 No ! wear thou, then, the ivy-braid, 

 Whose leaves are never sere I 



