BUCKTHORN FAMILY 



to Texas. Stems thornless, with smooth grayish bark ; branch' 

 lets hairy; juices bitter and astringent. 



Leaves. Alternate, simple, one to three and a half inches 

 long, ovate-lanceolate, acute or rounded at base, finely serrate, 

 obtuse or acuminate at apex. 



Flowers. May, June, just after the leaves. Polygamo-dioe- 

 cious, small, yellowish green, axillary, two or three together, 

 fragrant. 



Calyx. Tube urn-shaped, four-lobed ; lobes ovate, acute, 

 valvate in bud. 



Corolla. Petals four, narrow, deeply notched, inserted on 

 the calyx disk. 



Stamens. Four, inserted with the petals and opposite them. 



Pistil. Ovary free from calyx, two to four-celled, styles 

 three to four-cleft. 



Fruit. Berry-like drupe, globose, black, shining, one-third 

 of an inch in diameter, nauseous. 



This shrub bears flowers of two forms on distinct 

 plants, both perfect ; one with short pedicels, clustered 

 in the axils of the leaves and with a short included 

 style ; the other with pedicels oftener solitary, the 

 style longer and exserted. 



COMMON BUCKTHORN 

 Rhdmnus cathdrtica. 



Tall, upright, six to twenty feet high, bearing leafy thorns; 

 cultivated for hedges ; naturalized from Europe and sparingly 

 escaped from cultivation. Stems brownish gray with a silver 

 light. 



Leaves. Alternate, often seeming to be opposite, simple, one 

 to two and a half inches long, broadly ovate or elliptic, rounded 

 or acute at base, crenate or crenulate, acute or obtuse at apex ; 

 almost five-nerved, midvein and primary veins depressed above, 



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