fiUS 



R U S 



a black currant, with a fweet pulp, enclofmg one or two 

 large, fhining, globular, horny or femitranfparent feeds. 

 The above-mentioned variety has longer, more lax, branches, 

 and elliptical leaves, tapering at each end ; but there are 

 many intermediate ftates, which connect it with the com- 

 mon kind. Mr. Woodward has rightly obferved, that the 

 jtuiuer has a real flalk, immerfed in the leaf, under the 

 cuticle. We would remark, that the ftriA union of the 

 leaves and the branches, in this genus, is like that of Mofles, 

 and Ferns, which lalt they referable further in mode of 

 inflorefcence, and exceed them in firmnefs of texture. 



2. R. Hypophyllum. Broad-leaved Butcher's-broom. 

 Linn. Sp. PI. 1474. Willd. n. 2. Ait. n. 2. (Laurus 

 alexandrina et Chamxdaphne ; Column. Ecphr. 164. t. 165. 



0. R. latifolius, fruftu in medio foliorum extra pendente ; 

 Till. Pif. 149- Dill. Elth. 333. t. 251. f. 323. 



Leaves flowering on the under fide, without a leaflet. 

 — Native of rather hilly fituations in Italy. Dr. Sibthorp 

 gathered it alfo on mount Athos, in fhady woods, and took 

 it for the X»pa»3a?>jri of Diofcorides, of which we conceive 

 there can be no doubt. The roots are much like thofe of 

 the foregoing, but the plant is not branched, and the leaves 

 are much larger, more elliptical, with an acute, but not 

 fpinous, point. Each leaf bears, from the middle of its 

 under fide, a pair of ftalked pendulous_y?oiiw.;, whofe feg- 

 ments and neilary are of a more flender form than in the 

 aculeatus. Their Jlalks are accompanied at the bafe by a 

 fmall fcaly bratlea, but not by any acceffory leaf, as in the 

 following. The berries are red. 



3. R. Hypoglojfum. Double-leaved Butcher's-broom. 

 Linn. Sp. PI. 1474- Willd. n. 3. Ait. n. 3. Sm. Fl. 

 Grsec. Sibth. t. 955, unpubliftied. (Hippogloflum Diof- 

 coridis, et Lauro-Taxa Plinii ; Column. Ecphr. 166. Hy- 

 pogloffon ; ibid. t. 165. Ax$m aXi^x-.'ifux, Diofc. Sibth.) 

 —Leaves flowering on the upper fide, under a leaflet. — 

 Native of Hungary, Italy, mount Athos, and the borders 

 of the Black fea, in buihy, rather hilly fituations. Gerarde 

 appears to have cultivated it in 1596. The plant is kept 

 in fome curious gardens, where it bloflbms imperfectly early 

 in fpring, but we have never feen the berries, which in Dr. 

 Sibthorp's figure make a beautiful appearance, being of a 

 deep rich fcarlet, the fize of black currants. The habit 

 of this fpecies is like the lalt, but the leaves, though vari- 

 able in breadth, are commonly narrower, and particularly 

 diftinguiflied by the fmall leaf on their dilk, from be- 

 neath which proceeds a folitary, Italked, pale-green Jloioer, 

 with a (lender, purplifh, curved, furrowed neclary. The 



Jlems are fimple, fcarcely a foot high, not quite erect. 



4. R. androgynus. Climbing Butcher's-broom. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 1474. Willd. n. 4. Ait. n. 4. ( R. latifolius, 

 e foliorum finu flonfer et baccifer ; Dill. Elth. 332. t. 250.) 

 —Stem twining, branched. Leaves flowering at the edge. 

 — Native of the Canary iflands, and long cultivated in Eng- 

 land, where it proves a hardy green-houfe plant, flowering 

 moft part of the fummer. We have never feen this fpecies 

 in fuch perfection as in the celebrated garden of the late 

 Dr. Fothergill at Upton, where, under the foitering care 

 of his worthy fuccefiors, feveral relics of his colleftion {fill 

 remain. The Rufcus, trained up the infide of the old 

 green-houfe, to the height of many feet, makes a very 

 elegant appearance with its broad, ovate, drooping leaves, 

 of a rich (tuning green, from one of whofe margins pro- 

 ceeds a copious tuft of cream-coloured flowers, male and 

 female on the fame plant. The berries are defcribed by 

 Dillenius nearly the fize of the laft, yellowifh, and ufually 

 folitary, one ripe feed in each. 



5. R. racemofus. Alexandrian Laurel, or Cluftered 

 Butcher's-broom. Linn. Sp. PI. 1474. Willd. n. 5. 

 (Laurus alexandrina anguftifolia ramoia ; Morif. feet. 13. 

 t. 5. f. 4. L. alexandrina, frudtu e fummitate caulium 

 prodeunte; Herm. Lugd. Bat. 679. t. 681.) — Stem erecL 

 branched. Clufter terminal. Flowers united. — Native of 

 Portugal, according to Mr. Aiton. Linnceus was unac- 

 quainted with its origin, and Willdenow by miftake, it 

 feems, mentions the iflands of the Archipelago, as Dr. 

 Sibthorp did not obfervc the plant any where in his tour, 

 though he could not poflibly have over-looked it at any 

 feafon of the year. Nothing is more common in (hrub- 

 beries, and ruitic gardens. "Yhejlems are buihy, from two 

 to four feet high. Leaves feflile, lanceolate, twifted, of a 

 bright and polifhed green. Flowers in terminal clutters, 

 pale buff or cream-coloured, the Jlamens and pijlils com- 

 plete in each flower, but they afford no great quantity of 

 fruit; except occafionally, in retired country fituations, 

 where the herb grows luxuriantly. The berries are orange- 

 coloured. 



6. R. reticulatus. Reticulated Butcher's-broom. Thunb. 



Prodr. 13. Willd. n. 6 " Stem climbing. Leaves ovate, 



many-ribbed, reticulated. Flowers folitary, italked." 



Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 



7. R. volubi/is. Twining Butcher's-broom. Thunb. 

 Prodr. 13. Willd. n. 7. — " Stem twining. Leaves ovate- 

 oblong, many-ribbed." — From the fame country. We 

 know nothing of this or the laft, but from Thunberg's 

 fhort definitions. 



Miller has a R. trifoliatus, from Zante and the Greek 

 iflands, which profeffor Martyn juitly prefers to Hypophyllum. 

 The fame author defcribes another fpecies, under the name 

 of R. frutefcens, gathered by Houltoun near Carthagena. 

 This we conceive to be a Jacquinia ; probably the rufcifalia 

 of Linnaeus. 



Ruscus, in Gardening, contains plants of the (lirubby 

 and under-flirubby evergreen kind, of which the fpecies 

 cultivated are, the prickly-butcher's-broom (R. aculeatus) ; 

 the broad-leaved butcher's-broom ( R. hypophyllum) ; tlie 

 double-leaved butcher's-broom (R. hypogloilum) ; the 

 Alexandrian laurel (R. racemofus) ; and the climbing 

 butcher's-broom (R. androgynus). 



Method of Culture. — Thefe plants are capable of being 

 readily increated by the roots, which fend up numerous 

 ftalks or fuckers, which may be taken up in autumn, winter, 

 or fpring in open weathet;, and divided into many feparate 

 fets, each forming a proper plant, though they need not be 

 divided very fmall unlefs where a great increafe is required, 

 planting the largelt at once where they are to remain, and 

 the fmalleit in nurfery rows, &c, when each plant loon in- 

 creafes by offsets, and allumes a bufhy growth. They are 

 alfo capable of being raifed from feeds, but they often re- 

 main in the ground till the fecond fpring. The feeds of 

 the hardy fort (hould be fown in any bed or border an inch 

 deep, and the tender kind in pots, placed under ihelter in 

 cold weather ; and when the plants are a year old, pricking 

 them out in March, the hardy forts in nurfery-beds for two 

 or three years, and the tender forts in pots. 



All the different hardy forts are proper for being placed 

 out near the verges of fhrubberies, or any clofe plantations, 

 as they thrive under the drip of trees, and remain green 

 the year round. But the laft tender fort requires the 

 (helter of a green-houfe in winter, where it affords vanety 

 among other potted plants of that kind. 



RUSE, in Geography, a town of European Turkey, in 

 Romania ; 60 miles N.E. of Adrianople. 



2 RUSECK, 



