AND LOWER EGYPT. 267 



posed to each other, and of a faint green colour. 

 The flowers grow at the extremity of the branches 

 in long and tufted bouquets ; the smaller ramifica- 

 tions which support them are red, and likewise 

 opposite : from their arm-pit cavity springs a small 

 leaf almost round, but terminating in a point. The 

 corolla is formed of four petals curling up, and of 

 a light yellow. Between each petal arc two white 

 stamina with a yellow summit; there is only one 

 white pistil. The. pedicle, reddish at its issuing 

 from the bough, dies away into a faint green. The 

 calix is cut into four pieces, of a tender green up 

 toward their extremity, which is reddish. The 

 fruit or berry is a green capsule previous to its ma- 

 turity ; it assumes a red tint as it ripens, and be- 

 comes brown when it is dried : it is divided into 

 four compartments, in which are enclosed the seeds 

 triangular and brown-coloured. The bark of the 

 stem and of the branches is of a deep gray, and 

 the wood has, internally, a light cast of yellow. 



This shrub had at first been considered as a spe- 

 cies of privet # , to which it has, in truth, many re- 

 lations; but differences in the parts of fructifica- 

 tion have determined botanists to make a distinct 

 genus of it, to which Linnaeus has given the name 

 odawsoriia, and, to the species in question, that of 



1 



* LigusUum vulgare. Lin. 



lawsonia- 



