65 RHAMNUS FRANGULA 



of tlie calyx-tube, green when young, passing through white, pale 

 yellow, and pink to purplish-black when ripe, on somewhat 

 deflexed stalks over J inch long ; pericarp thin, pulp thin, watery ; 

 pyrenes 2 (rarely 3), rather unequal, rounded in outline, com- 

 pressed, flattened on inner, convex on outer surface, bony, smooth, 

 yellow, the inner surface marked down the whole centre by a 

 faint line. Seed solitary in the pyrene and similar to it in form, 

 testa thin and yellow, closely invested by the pyrene, except 

 at the base which protrudes beyond it and is white, hard, 

 rounded, and bony, somewhat two-lipped ; embryo bright green, 

 cotyledons large, plane, pressed together, plumule minute, radicle 

 small, projecting, pointing to one side of the hilum ; endosperm 

 solid, scanty, at the sides of the cotyledons. 



Habitat. This rather pretty shrub is a native of this country 

 in woods, bushy places, and hedges, where it is by no means 

 uncommon, especially on damp or clay soils ; becoming, however, 

 very rare in Scotland. It is found throughout Europe, extending 

 also into Siberia, the Caucasus, and the Mediterranean coast of 

 Africa. It flowers in early summer, and the fruit is ripe in 

 July. 



The very different structure of the pyrenes in this plant 

 from that in R. catharticus (in spite of the external similarity 

 of their fruits), taken along with the flat cotyledons and 

 the hermaphrodite flowers with a quinary symmetry, certainly 

 afford strong grounds for retaining the old genus Frangula (as 

 has been done by Brongniart, A. Gray, and J. J. Bennett) apart 

 from Rhamnus, but the authors of the f Genera Plantarum * 

 give reasons against that step, and we have thought it best 

 in this case to follow the generally received nomenclature. 



Syme, E. Bot., ii, p. 228; Hook, f., Stud. PL, p. 83; Wats., 

 Comp. Cyb. Br., p. 136; Gren. & Godr., PI. France, i, p. 338; 

 Ledebour, PL Ross., i, p. 503; Boiss., PL Orient., ii, p. 21; 

 LindL, PI. Med., p. 167. 



Part Used and Name. EHAMNI FRANGULA CORTEX ; the bark of 

 the young trunks and of the larger branches. It is not official in 

 the British Pharmacopoeia, the Pharmacopoeia of India, or the 



