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-dice- 

 cious, small, vellowish u;reen, 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 

 stvle ; 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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