CHAP. XXXV. .RHAMNA V CEiE. 7?Ha'mNUS. 529 



deep sandy or peaty soil, and to supply it with abundance of moisture in the 

 growing season. The foliage has a neat appearance. The flowers are small, 

 and of a greenish yellow colour; and, in America, they are succeeded by 

 oblong violet-coloured berries. It is propagated by cuttings of the root, 

 or of the branches, or by layers. Plants are in the garden of the London 

 Horticultural Society, and in some nurseries. Price, in London, 2s. 6d. 

 each ; and at New York, 1 dollar. 



App. i. Other Species of Berchemia. 



B. flavescens Brongn., theZizyphus flavescens of Wallich , is a Nepal climber, not yet introduced. 

 B. lineuta Dec, flhamnus lineatus Lin., is a green. house shrub, introduced in 1804 from China. It 

 grows to the height of 8 ft. B. Loureirihna Dec., the /fhamnus lineatus of Lam., but not of Lin- 

 naeus, is a trailing shrub, a native of Cochin-China, among hedges and bushes, not yet introduced, 

 but, in all probability, half-hardy or hardy. 



Genus IV. 



ft 



jJUi 



. £fc 



to \ 



^M 



iZHA'MNUS Lam. The Buckthorn. Lin. Syst. Pentandria Mono- 



gynia. 



Identification. Lam. Diet., 4. p. 461. ; Lam. 111., t.128. ; Geert. Fruct, 2. p. 106. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 23. ; 



Don's Mill., 2. p 29 ; Brongn. Mem Rham., p. 53. 

 Synonymes. Nerprun, Fr. ; Wegdorn, Ger. ; the Ram, or Hart's, Thorne, Gerard. ; Box Thorn. 

 Derivation. From the Celtic word, ram, signifying a tuft of branches ; which the Greeks have 



changed to rhamnos, and the Latins to ramus. 



Description, fyc. Deciduous, or evergreen shrubs, one or two of them 

 with the habit of low trees, and some of them sub-procumbent, or procum- 

 bent; and all of them, except the latter, distinguished by an upright stiff 

 mode of growth, and numerous strong thorns in their wild state; whence the 

 name of ram, or buck, thorn. Many of the sorts set down in books as species 

 are, doubtless, only varieties; but, till the whole are brought together, and 

 cultivated in one garden, this cannot be determined. The flowers in all the 

 species are inconspicuous ; but the R. ^laternus and its varieties are most 

 valuable evergreen shrubs, and several of the other species are ornamental, 

 both from their foliage and their fruit; the latter of which is also useful in 

 dyeing. R. hybridus, R. alpinus, R. catharticus, R. Frangula, R. saxatilis, R. 

 alnifolius, and R. latifolius are species procurable in the nurseries, and well 

 deserving of cultivation. They are all easily propagated by seeds or layers, 

 and most of them by cuttings; and they will all grow in any soil that is dry. 

 They all vary much in magnitude by culture, in common with most plants 

 which, in a wild state, grow in arid soils. 



§ i. Marcorella Neck. 



Synonymes. J?hamnus and „41at(- 5 rnus of Tourn. 



Sect. Char. Flowers usually dioecious, and 5-cleft. Fruit a berry, with 3 

 seeds, or, from abortion, 2 seeds. Seeds deeply furrowed, with the raphe 

 in the bottom of the furrow. Leaves usually permanent; coriaceous, and 

 glabrous. {Dec. Prod., ii. p. 23.) 



A. Alatermts Tourn. Flowers racemose, 5-cleft. Evergreen Shrubs. 

 * 1. R. Jlate'rnus L. The Alaternus. 



Identification. Lin. Spec, 281. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 23. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 30. 



Synonymes. Jlaternus Phillyrea Mill. Diet., No. 1. 



Derivation. From Altemus, a generic name, adopted from Dioscorides, designating the alternate 



position of the leaves. 

 Engravings. Mill. Diet., t, 16. f. 1. ; N. Du Ham., 3. p. 42. t. 14. ; and our^. 1&7. 



o o 2 



