LETTER XXXVII. 



THE BUCK-THORN TRIBE SPINES THE SPURGE TRIBE. 



Plate XXXVIII. 



You will sometimes see in curious gardens, you may 

 always buy in the nurseries, or should you ever visit 

 Greece or Palestine, you will find abundantly in wild 

 rocky places, a spiny shrub, of a light and elegant 

 aspect when it puts forth its new leaves in the spring, 

 but of a savage withered appearance in the autumn, 

 when its leaves are dried and discoloured, and its 

 branches covered with a profusion of little, round, 

 brown, flat seed-vessels, resembling ancient bucklers c 

 This plant is called by the modern Greeks, PaHouri ; 

 bv Botanists, Paliurus australis, or aculeatus ; and by 

 the English, Christ's Thorn, because it is said to have 

 furnished the cro^ni of thorns for our Saviour. 



As this is a very interesting plant, we will take it 

 for an illustration of the Buck-thorn Tribe, rather 

 than the wild hedge-shrub, from which the latter 

 derives its name. Its leaves {Plate XXXVIII. 1. 

 fig. 1.) are alternately inserted upon slender, flexible 

 branches ; they are of an oblong figure, are slightly 

 crenelled at the edge, and have three strong veins, 

 which run from the one end to the other of the leaf, 

 giving it a three-ribbed appearance. The leaves are 



