1280 HIPPOPHZ. [CLASS XXII, ORDER 11k. 
and make them into circles, to keep all the year, pretending with 
them to cure “ hectics and other troubles.” Poetically identified 
with the Misseltoe is the golden bough of Virgil, which was the pass 
port of Aineas to the infernal regions; he was guided to the tree on — 
Awhich it grew in the “ thick woods” by two doves, his mother’s birds— 
“ Hopping and flying thus, they led him on 
To the slow lake; whose baleful stench to shun, 
They wing’d their flight aloft; then, stooping low, 
Perch’d on the double tree that bears the golden bongh, 
Through the green leaves the glittring shadows glow; 
As, on the sacred Oak, the wintry Missletoe, 
Where the proud mother views her precious brood, 
And happier branches which she never sow’d, 
Such was the glittering, such the ruddy rind, 
And dancing leaves, that wanton’d in the wind. 
He seiz’d the shining bough with griping hold, 
And rent away with ease, the ling’ring gold 5, 
Then to the Sibyl’s palace bore the prize.” 
Virgil Zneis, vi. 294. 
The Misseltoe is slightly astringent, and bas been used for the cure 
of epilepsy, and some diseases of females; but its medicinal powers 
are now as lightly regarded as its moral influence ; and it is now only 
esteemed for the licence which it gives to youths on Christmas Eve, 
to salute the maiden, who may be caught under it, as long as a 
berry remains upon its branches. 
GENUS V. HIPPO'’PH#.—Lisy. Sallow-thorn. 
Nat. Ord. Exzeac'nEx. Brown. 
Gen. Coan. Barren flowers collected into a small kind of cathin, 
each scale bearing a flower. Perianth tubular, bifid at the apex, 
closed. Anthers linear, sessile, two celled. Fertile flowers 
solitary, perianth single, tubular, cloven at the summit. Style 
short. Stigma subulate. Fruit a one seeded nut, surrounded 
by the coloured succulent calyx.—Name sos, a horse; and 
Quw, to brighten ; probably not originally applied to this plant. 
1. H. rhamnoides, Linn. (Fig. 154.3) Common Sallow-thorn, or 
Sea Buck-thorn. Leaves linear lanceolate. 
English Botany, t. 425——English Flora, vol. 4 p. 237.—Hooker, 
British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 375.—Lindley, Synopsis, p. 208. 
A bushy shrub, four to five feet high, with straight rigid branches, 
terminating in a sharp pointed thorn. Leaves numerous, linear 
lanceolate, scattered on a short footstalk, dark green, and dotted 
above, white and silvery beneath. Flowers very small, pale green in 
the axis of the young leaves. Berries globoso-elliptic, on a short 
stalk, orange-coloured, smooth, with a pleasant acid flavour. 
