74 THE TREES AND SHRUBS [LECT. 



manner in which Virgil alludes to it in his 5th 

 Eclogue z , where he says that at the death of Daph- 

 nis, the Thistle, and the PaUurus with its sharp 

 thorns, sprang up in the place of the Violet and the 

 Narcissus, seems to shew, that the Jujube, a tree 

 prized for its fruit, could not have been there 

 intended. Sibthorp identifies the PaUurus with 

 'Pdjjivos TpL<T(ros of Decandolle. 



At any rate, the species which Hasselquist con- 

 sidered the true Christ's Thorn, and which is there- 

 fore called Zizyphus Spina Chris ti, must be distin- 

 guished from either, as having a mucilaginous Drupe 

 like the Jujube, although of a somewhat different 

 shape, and not a dry indehiscent fruit, like the 

 PaUurus aus trails. 



RHAMNUS. 



Nine species of Rhamnus, or Buckthorn, occur, 

 according to Sibthorp, in Greece, and as many are 

 set down by Manetti as found in Italy. The R. 

 alaternus is the Alaternus of Pliny and Columella, 

 the (f)v\iKrj of Theophrastus. 



Rhamnus infectorius, common in the south of 

 Europe, especially about Avignon, was much sought 

 after for its berries, which were hence called Graines 

 d' Avignon, and were used for dyeing leather yellow. 



It has been supposed, that Pliny a alludes to this 

 or some other species of the same family under 

 the name of Rhamnus, from the root of which was 



z " Pro molli viola, pro purpureo narcisso, 



Carduus, et spiuis surgit Paliurus acutis." 

 * Lib. xxiv. 76. 



