CELASTEU 



BUCKTHOBN OBDEB 



PALIUBUS 303 



shaped or concave 5-lobed disc. Capsule 

 roundish, globose, or oblong, leathery. 

 Seeds inclosed in an aril. 



C. Orixa (Orixajaponiod). — A Japan- 

 ese shrub 6-9 ft. high, with elliptic or 

 obovate glossy green leaves having entire 

 edges. The small greenish ilowers are 

 produced in summer, the males usually 

 being in racemes, the females solitary and 

 long-stalked. 



Culture and Propagation. — This 

 species is hardy in the neighbourhood of 

 London, and like the better known 0. 

 scandens will thrive in ordinary good gar- 

 den soil in sheltered positions. It may be 

 increased by layers. 



C. scandens {CKmhimg Waxworh; 

 Bitter Sweet). — A deciduous N.American 

 climber, 12-15 ft. high, with ovate-pointed, 

 serrated leaves 3 in. long, 2 in. broad. 

 Flowers in early summer, pale yellow, in 

 terminal racemes, succeeded by 3-angled, 

 3-seeded orange berries. 



Culture and Propagation. — This 

 species thrives in ordinary soil, and is 

 increased by layering the young shoots 

 in aittumn. Seeds may also be sown in 

 cold frames as soon as ripe, and as soon 

 ■as large enough the following spring they 

 may be moved into a prepared bed of good 

 garden soil outside. For covering arbours 



or trellises with its masses of glossy foliage 

 in summer, and bright berries in autumn, 

 it is very effective. 



MAYTENUS.— A rather large but 

 not well-known genus of evergreen bushes 

 or shrubs, with alternate and often 2- 

 ranked, stalked, leathery, serrate leaves, 

 and minute deciduous stipules. Flowers 

 small, polygamous, white, yellow, or red- 

 dish, borne in the axils of the leaves, 

 either solitary or in clusters or cymes. 

 Calyx 5 -cleft. Petals spreading. Stamens 

 5, inserted beneath the roundish wavy- 

 edged disc. Capsule leathery, 1-3-celled. 

 Seeds with a pulpy aril. 



M. chilensis. — A Chilian shrub 6-10 

 ft. high, with elliptic oblong serrate leaves, 

 tapering at each end. The greenish- 

 yellow flowers appear in early summer 

 and are not particularly attractive. 



Culture and Propagation. — This 

 species is probably unknown outside 

 botanic gardens. It grows in ordinary 

 good garden soil in warm and sheltered 

 positions protected from the north and 

 east winds. It may be increased by 

 layering the shoots in late summer or 

 autumn, or by placing cuttings of the 

 ripened shoots in sandy soil under a hand- 

 light in autumn. It is fairly hardy in the 

 neighbourhood of London. 



XXXIII. RHAMNE^— Buckthorn Order 



An order of erect or climbing trees or shrubs, often spiny, rarely tendrilled 

 ■or glandulose, with alternate, simple, usually stipulate leaves, often 3-5- 

 nerved, entire or serrate. Flowers usually hermaphrodite, often in loose or 

 •dense axillary cymes. Calyx-tube leathery, 4-5-lobed. Petals 4-5, or none. 

 Stamens 4-5 inserted with the 'petals in the throat of the calyx. Fruit 

 capsular or drupe-like. 



PALIURUS (Christ's Thoen).— A 

 ^enus of sub-erect or decumbent smooth 

 •or slightly tomentose shrubs, armed with 

 stipular spines. Calyx-tube 5-cleft, 

 broadly obcohical. Petals 5, small, 

 hooded, often deflexed. Disc 5-lobed. 

 Stamens 5, enclosed by the petals or pro- 

 jecting beyond them. 



P. aculeatus. — A prickly shrub about 

 8 ft. high, native of the Mediterranean 

 region. Leaves ovate, serrulate, smooth, 

 ■3-nerved, with 2 spines at the base, one 

 erect, the other hooked. Flowers in 

 summer, greenish-yellow. Fruit like 

 ■a head with a broad-brimmed hat. The 



appropriate name of aculeatus has now 

 been dropped by botanists, who caU this 

 plant P. austraUs, the latter name refer- 

 ring to its habitat in S. Europe. 



Culture and Propagation. — This 

 species, as well as Zizyphus spina- Christi, 

 is supposed to have supplied the crown of 

 thorns placed on our Lord's head. It 

 grows freely in ordinary soil, and may be 

 increased by layers, cuttings of the roots, 

 or seeds in late summer or autumn. The 

 root cuttings and seeds are best treated 

 under proteciion in cold frames or under 

 handlights. In very severe winters the 

 tips of the branches are likely to suffer. 



