THE BUCKTHORN. 



HOUGH linked together in name with the Alder Buckthorn, 

 the Buckthorn (Rhamus Catharticus) differs from it in 

 many essential features, and the connection leads to com- 

 parisons which are on the whole to its disadvantage. 

 The perplexing tangle of its numerous twigs, and its rough 

 branches stunted and armed with thorns, contrast unfavourably with 

 the free growth and suppleness of its namesake. Its leaves are coarser 

 and less shapely, and often huddled together in bunches, owing to the 

 arrested development of the twig, instead of being fairly spaced along 

 it. The leaf-blade is of less pleasing texture, and its edges are serrated 

 instead of being unbroken. The flowers are produced in dense clusters, 

 in which detail is lost, instead of growing singly, and they have the 

 somewhat unusual number of four instead of five petals to differentiate 

 them still further from those of the Alder Buckthorn. The black, 

 richly coloured berries, however, make a goodly show, and their 

 peculiarity of form (they are flattened at the base) saves them from 

 being commonplace. In form, the Buckthorn is a spreading bush or 

 tree, rarely exceeding ten feet in height. 



THE FLOWER AND FRUIT. 



The Buckthorn blossoms in May. The male flowers usually grow 

 on one tree, the female on another. Although the flowers form 

 dense clusters round the axils of the leaves, each one has a separate 

 stalk about a quarter of an inch long which springs directly from 

 the twig. The male flowers have four pointed petals, arranged 

 at right angles to the calyx tube. These petals are roughly 



