The Buckthorns 



believed to have tasted — to their undoing — the fruit of one of the 

 buckthorns. 



Indian Cherry, Yellow Buckthorn {Rhamnus Carolini- 

 ana, Walt.) — A slender, spreading tree, 25 to 35 feet high, or a tall 

 shrub; branches thornless. Dark ashy grey, blotched with black, 

 shallowly furrowed; branches grey. Wood hard, light brown, 

 close, brittle. Buds pointed, small. Leaves deciduous, alternate, 

 elliptical, acute, faintly serrate, 2 to 5 inches long, yellow-green 

 above, paler beneath; veins yellow. Flowers small, in axillary 

 umbels, April to June. Fruits, September; berry-like, 2 to 4- 

 celled drupes, with dry, sweet, black flesh, red before it ripens. 

 Preferred habitat, rich bottom lands and limestone hillsides. 

 Distribution, Long Island to Florida; west to Nebraska and 

 Texas. Uses: Sometimes planted as an ornamental for its 

 bright berries. Not hardy North. 



The Cascara Buckthorn (R. Purshiana, DC.) grows 

 from Puget Sound through California, and east to Colorado and 

 Texas. It is extremely variable in size, adapting itself to different 

 regions and climates with great facility. In the caiions of the 

 Sierras it becomes a tree 40 feet high; on the exposed mountain 

 sides and on the arid coast of California it dwindles to a prostrate 

 shrub. Its elliptical leaves are usually evergreen or half ever- 

 green; the fruits turn red on ripening, then black. 



It is from the bark of this tree that the drug, Cascara Sagrada, 

 is obtained. The species and its varieties are planted in shrub- 

 beries for their pretty foliage and, bright fruits. Forms with 

 deciduous leaves are hardy in Massachusetts gardens. 



The Evergreen Buckthorn {Rhamnus crocea, Nutt.) grows 

 on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, 

 south of the upper valley of the Sacramento River. It is more 

 often a shrub than a tree, and commonly forms thickets on 

 the shaded sides of ravines. Its leaves are almost round and 

 spiny-toothed, glossy green above and coppery beneath. Its 

 scarlet, pea-like fruits are sweet and edible. This buckthorn is 

 frequently seen in gardens in California. It is not hardy in the 

 North, but deserves introduction into the Southern and Middle 

 States. 



Numerous related genera belonging to the buckthorn family 

 are found in the Southern States and in California. Among them 

 are trees of unusual interest which deserve brief mention here. 



390 



