106 BHAMNACE*. [RJtamnus. 



Order XXII. EHAMNACE^, Juss. 



" Calyx 4—5 cleft, valvate in sestivation. 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 ealycine lobes. Ovanj inferior, wholly or in part superior, 

 2 — 4 celled ; cells with 1 erect ovule. Fruit fleshy and indehis- 

 cent, or dry and dehiscent. Seeds erect. Albumen fleshy, rarely 

 wanting. Embryo straight ; cotyledons large and flat, radicle 

 inferior. — Shrubs or small trees, with simple, usiudly alternate 

 leaves, minute stipules, and small greenish flowers." — Br. Fl. 



I. Rhamnus, Linn. Buckthorn. 



" Calyx urceolate, 4 — 5 cleft. Petals nearly flat and notched, 

 often wanting. 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." — Br. Fl. 



The species of tliis genus affect inland places remote from the influence of the 

 sea air, for which reason both our Buckthorns, and especially R. catharticus, are 

 very rare in the more maritime climates of Scotland and Ireland, and are quite 

 unknown in the Channel Islands, though common enough on the European con- 

 tinent farther North than any part of this kingdom. 



1. R. catharticus, L. Purging Buckthorn. Stem erect, spines 

 terminal, flowers mostly dioecious densely fascicled 4-cleft tetran- 

 drous, leaves ovate or elliptical serrulate, berry 4-seeded. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 279. Sm. E. Fl. i. 328. Br. Fl. 91. Bab. Man. 69. 

 E. B. xxiii. t. 1629. Loud. Arb. Brit. ii. 531. fig. 198. Guimp. 

 und Hayne, Abbild. der Deutsch. Holtzart. i. 23, t. 13. 



In woods, copses and hedgerows of the interior, seldom near the coast ; rare, 

 and principally on the chalk in West Medina. Fl. May, June. Fr. September, 

 October. Ij . 



E. Med. — Copses on the northern slope of Arreton down, sparingly. In Eagle- 

 head Copse, near Ashey, very sparingly. In a field-hedge a little to the right of 

 the road descending upon Knighton Irom Ashey down, Mr. W. Jolliffe. 



W. Med. — Amongst low brushwood by an arm of the Yar, a little to the right 

 of the road from Yarmouth to Freshwater, between Thorley and Wilmingham, 

 with leaves quite glabrous, excepting a few scattered hairs on the ribs beneath. 

 Near Calbourne, and Calboume New Barn. Elm Copse, near Calbourne. 

 Wooded valley at Eowledge. Hedges and bushy banks in the neighbourhood of 

 Boughborough farm. Rather plentiful in Tolt copse in its N.W. extremity, and 

 sparingly in other chalky woods and thickets at the base of Gatcombe down. 



A much-branched very rigid shrub or low tree, from about 5 or 6 to 10 or 12 

 feet high or upwards, with a trunk sometimes the thickness of the leg, usually 

 much more slender, the branches straight, spreading, terminated frequently when 

 old in a shiirp thorn-like point, the extremity of the younger ones pilose ; covered 

 with a reddish l-rown, blackish or partly cinereous bark, which is rough on the 

 trunk and larger branches, smooth and even on the smaller, the entire plant hav- 

 ing much the aspect of some of the smaller-leaved varieties of the common Crab 



