BTTCKTIIORN TRIBE 



61 



the Cape of Good Hope. A few also occur in Chili, Peru, and New 

 Holland. Many of them possess an acrid, stimulant principle. The 

 green leaves of one species are said to be eaten by the Arabs to 

 produce watchfulness, and a sprig of it is believed to be, to the per- 

 son who carries it, a protection from the plague. The only British 

 species, the Spindle Tree, is most remarkable for its pink-lobed 

 seed-vessels, which in autumn render the tree a conspicuous object. 

 The English name, Spindle Tree, is derived from the use made of its 

 very compact wood. 



I. EuoNYMUS (Spindle Tree). — Capsule 

 3-5-angled, with 3-5 cells and valves; seeds 

 solitary in each cell, coated with a fleshy 

 arilliis. (Name from Fiiouyme, the mother 

 of the Furies, in allusion to the injurious 

 properties.) 



I. EuoNYMUS {Spindle Tree) 

 I. E. EuropcBHS (Common Spindle Tree). — 

 Petals usually 4, oblong, acute ; stamens 

 usually 4 ; branches angular, smooth ; leaved 

 broadly lanceolate, minutely serrated. A 

 hedge and wood shrub, well marked bv its 

 clusters of small greenish flowers, glossy 

 leaves, green bark, and above all by its deeply 

 lobed seed-vessels, which when ripe are rose- 

 coloured, and on opening disclose the seeds 

 curiously wrapped in the scarlet arillus. The 

 wood, like that of the wild cornel and guel- 

 der rose, is much used for making skewers. 

 — Fl. Mav. Shrub. 



EuoNYMUS EUROP."EUS 



(Common Spindle Tree) 



Natural Order XXII 

 RHAMNACE^.— Buckthorn Tribe 



Calyx 4-5-cleft, valvate when in bud ; petals minute, inserted into 

 the tliroat of the calyx ; stamens 4-5, opposite the petals ; ovary 

 superior, or half superior, 2 to 4-ceiled, surrounded by a fleshy disk ; 

 fruit either fleshy and not bursting, or dry, and separating into 3 

 divisions ; seeds several. Trees or shrubs, with simple alternate 

 leaves, minute stipules, and small greenish floK'ers. Some species of 

 Zizyphus produce the jujube, well known in this country as a sweet- 

 meat. Z. lotus is famous for being the plant which afforded food 

 to the ancient Lotophagi, or Lotus-eaters. Homer states that it 

 was so delicious, that whatever stranger once tasted it immediately 

 forgot his friends and native country and desired only to dwell 

 within reach of it. 



