CORNACEiE. 185 



turners in the south of Europe ; but it is seldom used here for any purpose but that of 

 ■whetting the knives of leather-Gutters. It is very porous. The ancients supposed 

 that it had the property of separating wine from water by filtration, an error arising 

 from the wood absorbing the colour of the liquid in its passage through the pores. On 

 the Continent at the present time it is sometimes used in thiu slices as a filter. The 

 Ivy is sometimes eaten by sheep and horses, but it is not a favourite food. In the 

 " Winter's Tale " we read of the shepherd who found Perdita, being led to the sea-side 

 in the hope of finding two of his sheep which had strayed " browsing on ivy." After all, 

 the charm of the Ivy consists in its unrivalled pertinacity of growth, its rich colour, 

 and its associations with much that is interesting in history. From the days of Pliny 

 it has formed a favourite embellishment of dwelling-houses. In a letter to Apollinaiis, 

 the consul, describing his principal seat in Tuscany, represents the trunks of his 

 plum-trees to be entwined with it, and extending so as to connect them together. 

 Hasselquist says, that about Smyrna it forms hedges and ornaments to every garden. 

 These classical associations may add somewhat to the interest with which we regard 

 our old ivy-grown buildings, but they cannot add to the delight which every lover of 

 nature must feel in contemplating the picturesque beauty with which it clothes every 

 object to which it attaches itself, be it a rugged cliff, a ruined wall, or the dying trunk 

 of an old tree of the forest. 



OKDEK, XXXV— CORNACEiE. 



Trees or shrubs, rarely herbs, with opposite (very rarely alter- 

 nate), usually entire, pinnately veined exstipulate leaves. In- 

 florescence a corymbose cyme or an umbellate head, in the latter 

 case surrounded by a corolla-like involucre. Flowers perfect, 

 regular, generally white, more rarely yellow, maroon, or greenisb. 

 Calyx adnate to the ovary, with 4, more rarely 5, small teeth, or 

 as many lobes with valvate aestivation. Corolla of as many dis- 

 tinct petals as there are teeth in the calyx, inserted into the 

 margin of tbe epigynous disk, with valvate aestivation. Stamens 

 as many as the petals, and inserted with them ; anthers introrse. 

 Ovary 1- or 2-celled, with a solitary pendulous ovule in each cell ; 

 style single. Fruit a fleshy or juicy drupe, with a 1- or 2-celled 

 stone. Seeds anatropous ; albumen fleshy ; embryo nearly as long 

 as the albumen. 



GENUS L~Q O R N U S. Linn. 



Calyx-tube adbering to the ovary, limb of 4 teeth. Stamens 4. 

 Style 1. Fruit a drupe containing a stone with 2, rarely 3 cells. 

 Seeds solitary in each cell, pendulous. 



Trees, shrubs, rarely herbs. Leaves opposite, except in one 

 vol. iv. 2 b 



