RHAMNACEiE. 179 



Plate 168. 



RHAMNUS, Tourn. 



Calyx 4-fidus, rariiis 5-fidus, tubo urceolato intus disco 

 tenui s. margine incrassato vestito. Petala exigua vel nulla. 

 Ovarium liberum, 2 — 4-loculare. Drupa baccata, 2 - 4-pyrena. 

 Semina dorso sulcata, rhaphe dorsali. Cotyledones foliaceae, 

 revolutae. — Frutices vel arbusculae, foliis vage penninerviis, 

 floribus viridulis dioicis vel polygamo-subdioicis. 



Rhamnus & Alaternus, Tourn. Inst. p. 593. t. 366. 



Rhamni Sp., Linn. DC. Prodr. 2. p. 23. Brongn. 1. c. Endl. Gen. 5722. 



Cervispina, Dillen. Nov. Gen. t. 8. Moench, Meth. p. 686. 



Macorella, Neck. Elem. 2. p. 122. 



Cardiolepis, Raf. Neog. 1625, p. 2. 



Buckthorn. 



Calyx four-cleft, rarely five-cleft, with an urceolate tube ; 

 the lobes valvate in aestivation, deciduous. Disk lining 

 the tube of the calyx, thin below, more or less thickened 

 upwards, entirely free from the ovary. Petals as many as 

 the lobes of the calyx and shorter than they (usually very 

 small), inserted alternate with them into the thickened mar- 

 gin of the perigynous disk, unguiculate, frequently emargi- 

 nate or two-lobed, concave or cucullate, involute around the 

 stamens in aestivation, deciduous, often wanting. Stamens, 

 &c., as in Frangula. Ovary free, ovoid, two - four-celled : 

 STYLES united below : stigmas 2 to 4, terminal, obtuse. Ovule 

 solitary and erect from the base of each cell, anatropous ; the 

 raphe at first next the axis, but soon by torsion of the short 

 funiculus becoming lateral, and in the seed dorsal. 



Fruit a globular and baccate two - four-celled drape, con- 

 taining as many separable and cartilaginous pyrenas, which 

 when ripe incline to open along the ventral and sometimes 

 on the dorsal suture, conformed to the seed. Seed obovate, 



