Holly-Leaved Buckthorn 



677 



is 3-celled. The fruit is nearly globular, about 10 mm. in diameter, black, usually 

 containing 3 nutlets, which are rounded on the back; its flesh is sweet. 



The wood is light brown, rather hard, weak, with a specific gravity of about 0.55. 



2. CASCARA SAGRADA — Ehamnus Purshiana de CandoUe 



An important drug-plant, this Buckthorn occurs on hillsides and along streams 

 from Montana to British Columbia, Colorado and central CaUfomia. While often 

 a shrub, it sometimes forms a tree 10 to 13 meters high, with a trunk up to 5 dm. 

 thick. It is also known as Coffee-tree, Bitter-bark, Shittimwood, Bearbeny, 

 Wahoo, and several other local names. 



The thin bark is brown and scaly, the young twigs finely hairy, green, be- 

 coming reddish brown and at length 

 smooth, the small buds not scaly. The 

 leaves are oblong or obovate, rather 

 thin, short-pointed or blunt, smooth and 

 dark green on the upper surface when 

 mature, more or less haii}'^ and yellow- 

 ish green on the under side, finely and 

 usually closely toothed, 3 to 18 cm. 

 long, the base blunt or somewhat heart- 

 shaped; the hairy leaf-stalks are 2.5 

 cm. long or less. The greenish perfect 

 flowers appear in May or June in axil- 

 lary hairy stalked clusters, but the tree 

 often continues to flower on some twigs 

 until late in the season; the flower-stalks 

 are slender and 6 to 20 mm. long; the 

 bell-shaped calyx is about 5 nun. long, its 5 or sometimes 4 pointed lobes about 

 as long as the tube; there are 5 minute petals each wrapped around a short sta- 

 men; the ovary is 2-celled or 3-celled, the slender style tipped by a 2-lobed or 

 3-lobed stigma. The fruit is nearly round, black when ripe, juicy, containing 2 or 

 3 nutlets, which are rounded on the back, not grooved. 



The wood is reddish brown, weak, with a specific gravity of about 0.58. The 

 bark is in high repute as a laxative and is collected in large quantities. 



Fig. 628. — Cascara Sagrada. 



3. HOLLY-LEAVED BUCKTHORN — Rhamnus ilicifolia Kellogg 



This small evergreen tree, or shrub, which has been confused with the smaller- 

 leaved, darker green low shrub Rhamnus crocea Nuttall, is widely distributed in 

 middle and southern California, and has been collected in Arizona. It grows on 

 hillsides and mountain slopes in relatively dry soil, and occasionally forms a tree 

 6 or 7 meters high, with a maximum trunk diameter of about 2 dm. 



