DIOECIA— TRIANDRIA. Ruscus. 235 



or at the back. Berries red. Some species have united 

 Jloivers ; one or more bear them in clusters. 



]. R. aculeatus. Common Butcher's-broom. 



Leaves ovate, sharp-pointed, flowering on the upper side 

 without a leaflet. 



R. aculeatus. Linn. Sp. PL 1474. mild. v. 4. 8/4. H. Br. 1073. 

 Engl. Bot. V. 8. t. 560. Hook. Scot. 288. JVoodv. Suppl. t. 237. 

 Mill. Illustr. t. 96. Bull. Fr. t. 243. 



R. n. 1238. Hall. Hist. v.2. 116. 



Ruscus. i?au%??. 262. Ger. Em.907.f. Trag. Hist. 919. f. Matth. 

 Valgr. V. 2. 555./. Corner. Epit. 935./. Bauh. Hist. v. 1 . 579./. 

 Bauh.Pin.470. 



Myrtacantha, Murina spina, sive Myvtus sylvestris. Loh. Ic. 

 637./ 



Aa^vYj, Daphne. Diosc. Ic, 132./. 



Butcher's Broom. Petiv. H. Brit. t.44.f.4. 



^. Ruscus laxus. Tr. of Linn. Soc. v. 3. 334. 



On bushy heaths, and in woods, more especially on a gravelly 

 soil. 



/3. At Stoke, near Gosport, plentifully. Mr. G. Caley. 



Perennial. March, April. 



Root fleshy, much divided at the crown, sending up many branched, 

 leafy, round, rigid, furrowed stems, 2feethigh, not flowering till 

 the second year, after which they die down to the root. Whole 

 herb dark green, smooth in every part. Leaves a continuation of 

 the branches, equally firm and durable, with scarcely any foot- 

 stalkx, alternate, spreading every way, obliquely twisted, ovate, 

 not an inch long, many-ribbed, each tipped with a sharp point. 

 Fl. solitary, near the middle of the upper side of each leaf, ap- 

 parently sessile, but their bracteated stalk is imbedded under the 

 cuticle, and runs down to the base of the leaf. Cal. pale green. 

 Nect. purplish. Berry the size of a Red Currant, scarlet, juicy 

 and sweetish. Seeds originally 6, but only 1 or 2 come to per- 

 fection. These are hard, white, semitransparent. Instead of 

 a leaflet, of considerable size, accompanying ihe flower, in some 

 species, there is in this a small spine, or bristle, winged at the 

 base, besides 2 or 3 membranous hracleas, on the elongated 

 fruit-stalk. 



The variety j3 has more extended and wavy branches, the leaves 

 rather elliptical than ovate, tapering at the base. It can scarcely 

 be considered as more than a variety, being itself liable to several 

 different appearances. 



