Transactions of the Horticultural Society. 295 



Rhamnus Zizyphus. " This tree has excited great contro- 

 versy among botanists ; and Linnaeus, Willdenow, Michaux, 

 and Persoon, all differ in their description of it. Shaw sup- 

 poses it was like the lotus of Theophrastus and Pliny, and 

 Sir James Smith, that it was the paliurus. What is certain, 

 however, is, that it is the tree which produces the fruit sold 

 in abundance in the markets of Constantinople, under the 

 name of Hunnab agaghi, and which has for a long time been 

 imported into the west of Europe under the name of Jujube. 

 It is minutely and accurately described by Pomet, Lemery, 

 and Tournefort, and forms an article in the old Pharma- 

 copoeias. I met with it frequently in the Ionian Islands, and 

 the Turks of Constantinople plant it before their coffee-houses, 

 with other trees, to enjoy the shade and fruit in their season." 



Rhamnus Paliurus, forms the hedges of Asia, which are 

 most impassible fences. " I am disposed to think that this 

 is the real Christ's Thorn, rather than that called Spina 

 Christi. The seeds are sold in the herb-shops of Constanti- 

 nople, and the native hakims, or doctors, prescribe them in 

 many complaints, under the name of Xalle. They are also 

 used as a dye." 



Melia azadaracn was not known to the ancients, though 

 found " abundantly all through the Mediterranean and the 

 Archipelago, in Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is always 

 planted in the area of a monastery, and the Caloyers, or 

 Greek monks, form the ribbed seeds into beads, and hence 

 it is called the bead-tree. The white pulpy exterior of the 

 seeds is said to be highly poisonous, and Avicenna, the 

 Arabian physician, cautions people even against the leaves 

 and wood ; hence the Arabs call it zederact, which signifies 

 poison ; the seeds are never eaten by birds. It is, however, 

 a very beautiful tree, with large, compound, pinnate foliage, and 

 rich spikes of lilac flowers." 



Acacia julibrissin; an exceedingly beautiful tree, and the 

 largest of th° genus ; that in the British palace garden at 

 Constantinople has a trunk of a foot in diameter. The foliage 

 is highly susceptible of the variations of the atmosphere ; it 

 affords a thick shade on a bright day, but when it threatens 

 rain, or when a cloud obscures the sun, the leaflets im- 

 mediately close their under surface together, till the sun 

 again appears. " The flowers consist of large pencils or 

 clusters of stamens, of a bright pink hue, and rich silky texture, 

 and hence the Turks, who are particularly fond of the tree, 

 have given it the soft and fanciful name of gul-ibrisim, the 

 silk-rose, and hence is derived its specific name with botanists. 

 It is now found in all the gardens of the Bosphorus, but it is 

 not a native, nor is it described by the ancients." 



