DIOECIA— TETRANDRIA. Hippopliae. 237 



about a foot high. Leaves of rather a deeper hue, one inch and 

 half long, rigid, almost woody, with parallel ribs, evergreen. Fl. 

 in small, axillary, yellowish heads, about 5 in each head. Berries 

 white, pellucid, the size of a Currant, sweet, very glutinous in- 

 ternally, serving to make the best birdlime, when boiled with 

 a small portion of vegetable oil. 

 Loranthus curopceus seems to be the original, or most common 

 Misseltoe, i^o;, of the Greeks, which grows usually on some 

 kind of Fir-tree. But our Viscum album is likewise found in 

 Greece, though rarely, growing on the Oak ; and this has been 

 preferred from the most remote antiquity. Hence, when the 

 superstitions of the East travelled westward, our Druids adopted 

 a notion of the Misseltoe of the Oak being more holy, or effica- 

 cious, in conjurations or medicine, than what any other tree 

 afforded, the Loranthus, or ordinary Misseltoe, not being known 

 here. This superstition actually remains, and a plant of Viscum 

 gathered from an oak, is preferred by those who rely on virtues, 

 which perhaps never existed in any Misseltoe whatever. • 



452. HIPPOPHAE. Sallow-thorn. 



Linn. Gen. b\7. Juss. 75. Fl. Br. 1075. Lam. t. 308. Ga-rln. t. 42.^ 

 Rhamnoides. Tourn. i. 481. 



'^a.t.Ovdi. Cali/ciflorcx;. Linn. 16. Elceagni. Juss. 24. San- 

 talacecc. Brown Prodr. Nov. Holl. 350. 



Barr.Jl. Cal. in 2 deep, roundish, valvular segments, 

 originally folded flatly together. Cor. none. Filam. 4-, 

 very short, erect. Anth. terminal, oblong, angular, 

 erect, of 2 cells, not projecting beyond the calyx. 



Fert. fl. Cal. of 1 leaf, inferior, tubular, cloven at the 

 summit, deciduous. Cot. none. Germ, superior, small, 

 roundish. Style short and thick. Stigma simple, ob- 

 long, projecting beyond the calyx. Berry globular, 

 very juicy, of 1 cell, with a thin skin. Seed solitary, 

 oblong, polished, with a furrow at each side, invested 

 with a double membranous tunic, the outermost perhaps 

 only the proper lining of the cell. 



Thorny shrubs, with opposite or alternate, stalked, simple, 

 undivided, entire leaves, scaly and silvery, especially 

 beneath. Fl. from the same buds, below the leaves, 

 ao-o-reffate, small, greenish. Berries acid, not unwhole- 

 some. Some of the floxoers are reported to have stain. 

 and pist. occasionally in the same individual. 



