XXXI. 1. THE COMMON BUCKTHORN. 473 
for tea. The lotus of the ancients, eating which,—as was 
fabled by Homer,—men forgot home and friends,—was the 
fruit of Zizyphus lotus, and gave a name to the nation that 
subsisted on it. The delicate jujube paste is prepared from 
the fruit of another species of the same plant, common in the 
markets of Constantinople. Christ's Thorn, a plant common 
in sterile places in Palestine, has 1ts name from a tradition 
that 1t furnished the crown of thorns for the brow of the 
Saviour. 
There are two genera in Massachusetts : 
1. &hdmnus, with flowers in small, axillary bunches; and 
2. Ceandthus, with flowers in large, showy, terminal bunches. 
XXXI. 1. THE BUCKTHORN. RHAMNUS. L. 
This is a genus of thirty or more species of shrubs or small 
trees with alternate or rarely opposite leaves, on short petioles; 
and minute flowers usually growing in short, axillary clusters. 
The calyx is 4- or 5-cleft, with its tube lined with a thin disk; 
the petals 4 or 5, emarginate or 2-lobed ; ovary 2- to 4-celled, not 
immersed in the disk; styles 2 to4. The fruit is drupe-like, 
and contains 2 to 4 cartilaginous nuts. 
Sp. 1. Tse Common Bucrtuorn. AR. cathdrticus. L. 
The buckthorn is often found growing wild in the neighbor- 
hood of Boston, and rarely in other parts of Massachusetts, but 
it was probably introduced from Europe, where it is a native. 
It is an upright, branching bush or low tree, growing to the 
height of ten or fifteen feet, with a smooth stem of reddish 
brown or grayish olive, and grayish limbs. The lower Wanches 
are short and stiff, nearly honzontal, and end in a rigid, sharp 
point. They thus act as thorns, though leafy. The leaves are 
nearly opposite, broad-oval or ovate, irregularly toothed or 
notched or waving on the border, of a soft texture, smooth 
above, somewhat hairy on the prominent veins beneath. 
The flowers have 3 or 4 stamens. The berries turn to a 
shining black in autumn. ‘They are found in clusters, on short 
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