CHAP. LXXXIV. SOLANA^CEiE. GRABO'WSKI^. 



1273 



11H 



1 9. L. (?e.) Sha'wj Roem. Shaw's Box Thorn. 



Identification. Roem. et Schultes Syst, 4. p. 693. ; Don's Mill., 4. p. 458. 



Synonyme. L. europium Mill. Diet., No. 4., Shaw Afr., p. 349. f. 349. 



Spec. Char., %c. Branches dependent, rather tomentose at the apex. Buds spinescent. Leaves 

 ovate-lanceolate, thickish. Branches scattered. Prickles strong. Leaves short, thick, scattered. 

 Flowers lateral, small, white. (Don's Mill., iv. p. 458.) A shrub, a native of Barbary, where it 

 grows 7 ft. or 8 ft. high ; flowering in June and July. It was introduced in 1700. 



& 10. L, a'frum L. The African Box Thorn. 



Identification. Lin. Sp, 277. ; Don's Mill., 4. p. 459. 



Engravings. Mill. Icon., t. 171. f. 1. ; Swt. Fl. Gard., 2d ser. t. 324. ; Bot. Reg., t. 354. ; Lam. III., 



112. f. 1. ; N. Du Ham., 1. p. 107—110. ; Trew Ehret, 4. t. 24. f. 2. ; Plenck Icon., t. 127. ; Mich. 



Gen., p. 224. t. 105. f. 2. ; Nis. Act. Par., 1711., p. 420. t. 12. ; and our figs. 1114. and 1115. 



Spec. Char., fyc. Erect, spiny. Leaves fascicled, linear, canescent, attenuated 

 at the base, obtuse, fleshy. Flowers almost axillary, solitary, drooping. 

 Corola tubular, 3 times longer than the calyx. Stamens enclosed. Bark 

 grey-coloured ; the smaller branches frequently spiny. Leaves 

 glaucous. Filaments bearded near the base, as in all the true 

 species. Stigma slightly 2-lobed. Corolla violaceous rich 

 purple above. Berry globose, violaceous. Calyx 

 5-toothed. (Don's Mill,, iv. p. 459.) It is a shrub, 

 a native of some parts of Spain, the north of Africa, 

 Palestine, Syria, Egypt, and Arabia Felix; where 

 it grows to the height of from 6 ft. to 10 ft., flower- 

 ing in May and June. It was introduced in 1712, 

 and is very commonly kept in the green-house ; but 

 a plant in the Chelsea Botanic Garden has stood 

 out against a wall since 1825, where it has attained 

 the height of 1 2 ft., and flowers profusely every year. 

 It is readily distinguished from all the other sorts by its 

 dark blue or black fruit. Belon, in speaking of the plain of 

 Jericho, and of the banks of the river Jordan, says, the bushes which bear the 

 lycion grow in this plain ; and we find in the Bible (Genesis, chap. 1. v. 10, 

 11.), that the Children of Israel, in their journey from the land of Goshen 

 to Canaan, came to the threshing-floor of Atadad; that is, in Hebrew, 

 lycium ; the plant being cultivated there for its berries, which were used in 

 medicine as a purgative, known to the ancients by the name of lucion, and 

 the mode of preparing which is indicated by Dioscorides. It is, however, 

 doubtful, whether the berries of i?hamnus saxatilis, which are known to be 

 cathartic, are not confounded with those of the .Lycium in this passage. 

 .Lycium afrum is one of the most ornamental species of the genus ; and, 

 though rather tender, it well deserves a place in every collection, against a 

 wall. Plants, in the London nurseries, 2s. 6d. each. 



L. ovatum Hort. There are plants bearing this name in the Horticultural 

 Society's Garden, and at Messrs. Loddiges's. 



L. spathuldtum Hort. There is a plant bearing this name in the Horticultural 

 Society's Garden against the wall. 



Genus III. 



1115 



GRABO'WSKU Schlecht. 



The Grabowskia. 

 Monogynia. 



Lin. Syst. Pentandria 



Identification. Schlecht. in Linnaea, 7. p. 72. ; Lindl. in Bot. Reg. 



Synonymes. /.ycium sp. Lin. ; Ehretm sp. VRirit. ; Crabowskia Don's Mill., 4. p. 480. 



Derivation. In honour of Dr. H. Grabowski, one of the editors of Flora Silesiaca. 



Description, fyc. A shrub, with the habit of the genuine species of Zycium, 

 much branched, furnished with axillary spines. Leaves scattered, quite 

 entire. Flowers from fascicles of leaves, or the revolute branchlets ; or sub- 

 corymbose from the tops of the branchlets : hence, they appear as if they 

 were panicled at the tops of the branches. (Don's Mill,, iv. p. 480.) 



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