248 NATURAL HISTORY. 



SECOND SUB-CLASS. 



Flowers with one or many petals adhering to or in- 

 serted on the calyx. 



TWENTY-FOURTH FAMILY. RHAMXACE.E. (Class 

 o, L.) Are shrubs and trees well provided with thorns. 

 Natives of temperate countries; flowers small; calyx 

 tubular and campanulate. The first is 



The Buckthorn (rhamnus cathartica). About six 

 feet high ; leaves growing in tufts, oval, and doubly ser- 

 rated, flowers small and of a greenish-white, blooms in 

 May. The pea-like berries are black, of a bitter taste, 

 and act both as a cathartic and emetic. Bark and un- 

 ripe fruit contain a yellow dye ; sap green is made from 

 the ripe berries, and, also, when over-ripe, a beautiful 

 purple, both much used by water color painters. ] ?. 



The Alder- Leaved Buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula), 

 Michx. Rather low, leaves oval, entirely serrate; 

 flowers mostly with five stamens, and bi-sexed. Fruit- 

 berries at first red, afterwards black. Very common in 

 the woods of Europe ; the reddish-colored wood is much 

 prized by cabinet-makers and turners ; besides, burned 

 into charcoal, it is preferred before any other in the 

 manufacture of gunpowder, therefore it is often called 

 powder-wood, h. 



The Jujube (zizyphus vulgaris) is a shrub found in 

 Italy and Spain, with few thorns ; short, oval leaves, 

 much toothed; fruit droops about an inch long, light 

 red, containing a gelatinous pulp in which a single seed 

 is enveloped. The dried fruit is much esteemed as a 

 specific in all pulmonary affections. 



The Thorn of the Cross and Zizyphus Latus belong 



