ELEAGNACE. 83 
Haddington; between Aberdour and Queensferry, Fife; and in the 
Isle of Islay and Mull of Cantire, Argyll; but in all, except the first 
three counties, it is probably not native. 
England [Scotland]. Shrub. Spring. 
A small, rigid, much-branched shrub with spreading or ascending 
spiny branches, clothed with grey bark. In the wild state as it grows 
on the Deal sand-hills it is rarely above 18 inches high, but at Folke- 
stone and on the shores of the Firth of Forth it attains the height of 
3 to ( feet, and has the branches less divaricate and much less spinous. 
Leaves in the Deal plant 1 to 1} inch long, but in the Haddington one 
2 inches or even more. Flowers lateral, produced on the wood of the 
preceding year round the base of the young branches just when they 
begin to shoot. Perianth of the male flowers ;'; inch long, subherba- 
ceous, with a few brownish scales at the margin. Anthers } inch long, 
yellow. Fruit ovoid, shortly stalked, about the size of a red currant 
orange, smooth, with a very thin skin enclosing watery juice, and so 
giving the fruit the appearance of a berry, but the juicy part is the 
perianth, not the pericarp or placentz, as in a true berry. Upper side 
of the leaves greyish green, from the scales being scattered rather 
thinly over them, except when very young, when they are more or less 
furfuraceous; under side of the leaves and branches of the year very 
densely clothed with a continuous covering of scales, some of which 
are white and silvery, others reddish brown, especially on the young 
leaves, which at first are somewhat oblong-obovate, but afterwards 
lengthen out, till they somewhat resemble those of a narrow-leaved 
osier. 
Sea Buckthorn. 
French, Argousier faua nerprun. German, Weidenblittriger Seedorn. 
This is one of the few shrubs of any size which belong especially to the coast. 
Tt seldom attains a height of more thaa twelve feet; the leaves are willow-like and 
of a silvery white, rendering the bush very ornamental. The berries are of a bright 
orange colour when ripe, and remain on the bush all the winter. The Siberians and 
Tartars make a jelly from these berries, and eat them with milk and cheese, whilst 
the inhabitants of the Gulf of Bothnia prepare from them a sort of rob, which they 
use as a condiment with fish. Yet in some parts of Hurope these berries are con- 
sidered poisonous, and a story is told by Rousseau of a person who saw him eating 
them, and though believing them to be poisonous, had too much respect for the great 
man to caution him against the supposed danger. In some districts of France a 
sauce is made from these berries and eaten with fish or meat. A decoction of them 
is said to be useful in cutaneous eruptions, The colour may be extracted by hot 
water and used as a dye for woollen stuffs, but it is not very brilliant when so 
obtained. The roots of the plant are long and straggling, and/often assist in binding 
the loose sand on which it grows. It is therefore well fitted for planting in such 
localities, and seems to protect other vegetation from the sea breezes, but the 
straggling mode of its growth and its creeping roots render it unfit for hedges in 
* other situations. 
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