532 



AKBOKETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART III, 



Description, History, S-c. A deciduous shrub or 

 low tree, growing to the height of 12ft. or 15ft. in 



a state o\ cultivation, with many irregular branches, 

 t he young shoots of which have a smooth greyish 

 brown bark; but the older branches have rougher 

 bark, armed with a few short thorns. The leaves 

 are ribbed, smooth, and of a bright green. The 

 Bowers arc of a yellowish green, and they are suc- 

 ceeded by berries, which are globular, bluish black, 

 nauseous, violently purgative, with 4 cells, and as 

 man) seeds. B\ this last character they are dis- 

 tinguished by druggists from the berries of R . Fran- 

 gula, which are supposed to be less cathartic. In 

 Britain, this species is found in native woods and 

 thickets, generally on calcareous and loamy soils, but seldom above 10 ft. or 

 12 ft, in height. According to Pallas, this species is common in the cham- 

 paign and southern parts of Siberia, with a trunk thicker than a man's arm, 

 and the wood very hard, and of a reddish colour. The flowers are, for the 

 most part, hermaphrodite, and, in a wild state, clustered; but in a state of cul- 

 tivation they are fewer, and nearly solitary. The juice of the unripe berries 

 has the colour of saffron, and it is used for staining maps or paper: they are 

 sold under the name of French berries. The juice of the ripe berries, mixed 

 with alum, is the sap green of painters ; but, if the berries be gathered late 

 in the autumn, the juice is purple. The bark affords a beautiful yellow dye. 

 The inner bark, like that of the elder, is said to be a strong cathartic, and to 

 excite vomiting ; the berries are also strongly purgative ; and it is said that the 

 flesh of birds which feed upon them possesses the same quality. Plants of 

 this species, in the garden of the London Horticultural Society, have attained 

 the height of 9 ft. in 10 years : they do not make much show in spring, when 

 in flower ; but in autumn and winter, when profusely covered with their black 

 berries, they are very ornamental. The fruit remains on after the leaves have 

 fallen. Plants, in the London nurseries, are Is. each ; at New York, plants 

 are 37 a cents each. 



If plants were required for forming hedges (for which the species is very 

 eligible, in consequence of its robust and rigid habit of growth), they could, no 

 doubt, be provided and supplied at a price less than that of plants of the com- 

 mon hawthorn, because plants of R. catharticus come up in the first year 

 from the sowing. 



fife 5. R. virga^tus Roxb. The twiggy Buckthorn. 



Identification. Roxb. Fl. Ind., 2. p. 351. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 24. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 30. 



Syrwnymes. R. catharticus Hamilt. MSS. 



Spec. Char.,&c. Erect. Branchlets terminating in a'spine. Leaves nearly opposite, oblong, ventricose, 



serrated. Flowers around the base of the young shoots, and axillary in threes. Stigmas 2— 3-cleft. 

 Don't Mill., ii. p. 33.) A deciduous shrub, growing to the height of 12 ft. in the Neelgherry 



Mountains in the Himalaya; introduced in 1820. The flowers are very small, yellow, and appear 



it) June and July ; and the berries are from 2- to 3-seeded. 



& 6. 72.tincto v rius Waldst. The Dyer's Buckthorn. 



Identification. Waldst. et Kit. PI. Rar. Hung., 3. p. 255. ; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 24.; Don's Mill., 2. 



p. SI. 

 Syn<mymc. R. cardiospermus Willd. Herb. 

 Engravings. Hayne Abild., t. 97., and our fig. 199. 



Spec. Char., Sec. Erect. Leaves ovate, crenate-ser- 

 rated. Petioles villous. Flowers crowded, dioecious. 

 Berries obcordate, .'i- to 1 -seeded. (Don's Mill., ii. 

 p. 31.) A deciduous shrub, a native of Hungary, in 

 hedges, where it grows to the height of 8 ft. Intro- 

 duced in IS^O. The flowers, which are produced 

 in May and June, are of a greenish yellow, and the % 

 berries and inner bark are used for dyeing. A plant 

 of this species, in the garden of the London Hor- 

 ticultural Society, was, in 1834, 3 ft. high, after being 7 years planted. 



