Zl)c (CrraSurg at 33ntanj). 



[ehap 



perigone unchanged in fruit, one to five 

 stamens, and a bifid style. The fruit is 

 depressed, with a horizontal seed. [J. T. S.] 



RHAMXACEiE. (Rhamni, Rhamnads). 

 An order of polypetalous dicotyledons, 

 comprising trees or shrubs resembling Ce- 

 tostracece in their small green or yellowish 

 flowers with a fleshy disk, and stamens 

 equal in number to the sepals, but differing 

 usually in their valvate sepals, and in their 

 I more decidedly perigynous and sometimes 

 i superior stamens ; and always in these sta- 

 mens being alternate with the sepals, and 

 in the petals when present being small 

 concave or hoodshaped, opposite the sta- 

 mens, and often enclosing them. The 

 leaves are alternate or very rarely opposite, 

 entire or more frequently toothed, and 

 sometimes reduced to minute scales. The 

 branches are frequently thorny or prickly; 

 the flowers in axillary or terminal clusters, 

 cymes, panicles, or rarely racemes ; their 

 parts are in fours or in fives ; the ovary is 

 two three or four-celled, with solitary erect 

 ovules in each cell ; and the seeds have a 

 | straight embryo in a fleshy albumen, which 

 j is rarely wanting. The order is spread 

 over the greater part of the globe, and 

 consists of above forty genera, of which 

 the principal are Zizyphus, Rhamnus, Cea- 

 notlius, Colletia, Phylica, Pomaderris, and 

 Gouania. 



RHAMNUS. The Buckthorn: a large 

 genus typical of the Rhamnaceos, and, with 

 the exception of a few species inhabiting 

 mountainous regions within the tropics in 

 India and Abyssinia, confined to the tem- 

 perate countries of the Northern Hemi- 

 sphere. The majority of them are shrubs 

 varying from one to eight or ten feet high, 

 though some occasionally grow as high as 

 fifteen or twenty feet and form small trees, 

 and many of them are armed with stout 

 spines. Their leaves, which are thick and 

 evergreen in some species, but thin and de- 

 ciduous in others, are almost always alter- 

 nate short-stalked and simple, and usually 

 smooth and feather-veined ; and their 

 small greenish short-stalked flowers are 

 borne in clusters or umbels proceeding 

 from the leaf-axils. They have a four or 

 five-cleft calyx, the lower or entire part of 

 which is cup-shaped or hemispherical and 

 lined with the thin disk, and has the petals 

 and stamens (agreeing in number with the 

 segments of the calyx) inserted into its 

 summit; the former, however, are some- 

 times absent, but when present they are 

 usually nearly flat and notched at the top. 

 The ovary is free from but generally shorter 

 than the calyx-tube, from two to four- 

 celled, and bears a two to four-branched 

 style. The fruits are fleshy, and contain 

 from two to four small one-seeded hard- 

 shelled stones. Several species afford use- 

 ful products, particularly dyes, and the 

 frmts of many possess violent purgative 

 properties. 



The Alaternus, R. Alaternus, is an ever- 

 green shrub or small tree, native of the 

 South of Europe and North of Africa, of 

 which several varieties are grown for orna- 



mental purposes in English gardens. It 

 has smooth serrated leaves varying from 

 egg-shaped to elliptical or lance-shaped, 

 and flowers of separate sexes, without 

 petals. 



R. catharticus, the Purging Buckthorn, 

 indigenous to Britain, is a stiff very much 

 branched shrub growing from five to ten 

 feet high, frequently having the branches 

 terminating in a sharp thorn-like point. 

 It has deciduous yellowish-green egg- 

 shaped leaves, and dense clusters of yel- 

 lowish-green flowers, which produceacrop 

 of little shining black fruits about the size 

 of peas. These fruits, which resemble 

 corns of black pepper when dry, were for- 

 merly in great demand as a purgative me- 

 dicine, and are still employed by rustic 

 practitioners; but on account of the vio- 

 lence of their action, they have deservedly 

 fallen into disrepute, although Syrup of 

 Buckthorn is included in our pharmaco- 

 poeias. The pigment known as sap or blad- 

 der-green is prepared by mixing the fresh 

 juice of buckthorn terries with lime and 

 evaporating to dryness. The bark likewise 

 possesses active purgative properties. 



The Alder Buckthorn, R. Frangida, also 

 affords a colouring-matter, and its wood 

 yields a superior charcoal for making gun- 

 powder. But the most important commer- 

 cial product of the genus is the dyeing 

 material used by calic'o-printers.and known 

 as Yellow-berries or Persian berries, con- 

 siderable quantities of which are annually 

 imported from Asiatic Turkey, and from 

 Persia by way of Trebizonde. Although j 

 usually ascribed to R. infectorius, they are 

 probably collected indiscriminately from 

 several species— the unripe fruits alone 

 being gathered. 



From the bark of two species lately de- 

 scribed under the names R. chlorophorus 

 and R. utilis, the Chinese prepare a beauti- 

 ful green dye, called by them Lo-kao, and 

 in this country Chinese Green Indigo, con- 

 siderable quantities of which have been 

 imported into Lyons and used for dyeing 

 silks, the shades of green imparted by it 

 being exceedingly beautiful, especially 

 when seen under the influence of artificial 

 light. A similar dye has since been ex- 

 tracted from R. catharticus. [A. S.] 



RHAPHIDOPHORA. A genus of Oron- 

 tiacece, consisting of Indian herbaceous 

 plants differing from Calla in their flat- 

 tened filaments and linear stigmas, and in 

 the presence of only a single ovule in the 

 ovary. From Monster a they are distin- 

 guished by their one-celled ovaries, with 

 only one ovule in each, and by the linear 

 stigma ; from Scindapsus by their flattened 

 filaments ; and from each by the persistent 

 spathe. The leaves of some of the species 

 are perforated with holes, for an account 

 of which see Scindapsus. [M. T. MJ 



RHAPHIOLEPIS. A genus of evergreen 

 bushes belonging to the Rosacea?, and num- 

 bering three species found in China and 

 Japan. They are nearly allied to Cralcrcius, 

 but are readily distinguished by the flowers 

 being disposed in racemes or panicles in- 



