ALDER BUCKTHORN. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



CROSS the common runs a deep-cut sandy lane. The crest 

 of heather and bracken which overhangs its shelving: sides 

 of bright orange sandstone forms eaves of still more 

 brilliant colouring, for they are lit from below by the 

 hot light reflected from the roadway. Under them some panting sheep 

 find shelter Irom the white heat that quivers over the vast stretch of 

 table-land. The palpitating air robs the line of distant hills — even the 

 skv — of all their colour. The only sounds are the cracking of the 

 ripe seed-pods of the gorse, the slight rustle of a grass snake, the 

 constant hum of insects. The only movement is the flutter of the 

 gay crowd of butterflies above the flowers. Where bushes of Alder 

 Buckthorn line the roadway, their shapely leaves are silhouetted against 

 the sky, with here and there a flower or a berry. The berries are 

 newly-formed and pale. To find them black and ripe, you must wait 

 till summer heats are past, and the hills stand out clear again under 

 the blue and green lights of an autumn sky — till the heather has 

 blossomed and the bracken is yellow. And, later in the year, the 

 wintry sun will cast an image of the stems, on which a few leaves 

 still remain, in bright blue shadows on the Irosted ground, while the 

 rime glitters on every twig. 



BUCKTHORNS. 



There are two species of Buckthorn — the Alder Buckthorn 

 (R/iamus Frangula) — also called the Breaking Buckthorn, and the Spine- 

 bearing Buckthorn {Rhamus Catharticus). The latter sometimes forms 

 a small tree with a trunk of perhaps seven inches in diameter. The 

 Alder Buckthorn is always of slighter build, and seldom exceeds the 

 dimensions of a bush. 



