92 



XXV. KHAMNACE^. 



\_Rhdmnus. 



rose-coloured. Arillodium orange- coloured. T!\\Qherries and even/eayej 

 are said to be dangerous, and the whole plant is fetid. Of its touo-h 

 white wood skewers and spindles are made, and Linnaeus tell us it 

 affords the best charcoal for drawing* 



Ord, XXV. RHAMNACE^ Juss. 



Calyx 4 — 5-cleft, valvate in estivation. Petals 4 — 5, inserted 

 on the summit of the tube of the calyx, shorter than and 

 alternate with its lobes, sometimes wanting. Stamens 4 — 5 

 alternate with the calycine lobes. Ovary inferior, wholly or in 

 part superior, 2 — 4-celled ; cells with one erect ovule. Fruit 

 fleshy and indehiscent, or dry and dehiscent. Seeds erect. 

 Albumen fleshy, rarely wanting. Emhryo straight ; cotyledons 

 large and flat ; radicle inferior. — Shrubs or small Trees, with 

 simple usually alternate leaves, minute stipules, and small greenish 

 flowers. Fruit of some purgative, as our Ramnus catharticiis ; 

 in others the fruit yields a dye, as R. infectorius^ &c. Zizyphus 

 Lotus is supposed to be one kind of Lotus of the ancients. 

 Jujubes are the produce of the fruit of -2^. vulgaris. 



1, RHAM^^us Linn, Buckthorn. 



Cal. urceolate, 4 — 5-cleft. Pet. nearly flat and notched, 



Stamens with ovate, 2-celled anthers. Disk 

 thin, covering the tube of the calyx. Ovary superior, 3—4- 

 celled. Berry with 2 — 4 cartilaginous nuts, each 1 -seeded.— 

 Name, pa[xvoQ^ in Greek, a branch ; from its numerous branches. 



1. 11. cathdr ticus Jj. (conunonB.); spines terminal, flowers 

 4-cleft dioecious, leaves ovate sharply serrate. £. B. t. 1629. 



Woods, hedges, and thickets, not unfrequent in England. About 



Cork and Lough Erne, in Ireland. 

 Leaves with 4 or 6 stron;:^ lateral 



often wanting. 



Dumfries, Scotland, 

 5- 



Near 



h- 



7. — A spreading shrub. 



nerves parallel with the margin or rib; serratures glandular. Jdowers 

 in dense fascicles. In the barren flower the petals are oblong-ovate, 

 in the fertile one they are linear, incurved above, but not cucullate. 

 Styles 4, united half-way up, spreading. Seeds with a deep external 

 furrow. Embryo bent or slightly folded longitudinally. Berries 

 black, nauseous, powerfully cathartic ; they afford a yellow dye m an 

 unripe state ; the bark a green dye. 



2. R. Frdngula L. {Alder B,); unarmed, flowers 5-cIeft 

 perfect, leaves obovate entire, B, B. t. 250. 



Near Auchincruive, Ayrshire, 



3 together, 



Style 1. 

 Emhrf 



Woods and thickets in England, 



A small sliruL Flowers stalked, axillary, 2 



\, 5, 6, 



somewhat fascicled, wliitish-green. Petals very minute. 



Berries dark purple, purgative. Seeds 2, even, compressed. 



flat. 



3. 



i 



8. 



i 



