rha'mnus. 



242 



RHJZO'PHORA. 



is no reserve-garden there is no pos- 

 sible way by which even a street-gar- 

 den, or the pots on a window-sill, can 

 be kept always in the highest order, 

 but by having recourse to the com- 

 mercial gardener. 



Rest-harrow. — See Ono'nis. 



Rha'mnus. — Rhamndcece. — The 

 Buck-thorn. Handsome deciduous 

 and evergreen shrubs ; some of which 

 almost attain the size and appearance 

 of small trees, and others are pro- 

 cumbent shrubs only fitted for rock- 

 work. They are all however distin- 

 guished by a stiff upright manner of 

 growth, and numerous strong thorns, 

 from which they derive their name of 

 Buckthorn. The flowers are generally 

 small and not ornamental, but the 

 berries are very much so ; and the 

 evergreen kinds are very valuable in 

 shrubberies, from their hardiness and 

 free habit of growth. The Alater- 

 nus (Rhdmnus Alaternus) is parti- 

 cularly valuable, because it bears 

 coal smoke and the confined air of 

 towns better than most other ever- 

 greens. 



Rhdmnus cathdrlicus, the Purg- 

 ing Blackthorn, is a deciduous shrub 

 with large handsome leaves and showy 

 berries. These berries when unripe 

 are used for making a yellow dye, and 

 they are sold for this purpose in the 

 colour shops under the name of 

 French berries ; when ripe, their 

 juice mixed with alum forms what is 

 tailed sap-green ; and if they are suf- 

 fered to hang on the trees till au- 

 tumn, their juice becomes purple. 

 The Avignon berries, also used in 

 dyeing yellow, are the fruit of R. in- 

 fectorius, which is a native of France, 

 near Avignon. R. saxdtilis, the 

 Stone Buckthorn, which is a decidu- 

 ous recumbent species, is a valuable 

 plant for rockwork, or for clothing 

 rocks or old walls, where it is desir- 

 able to give a wild and natural ap- 

 pearance to the scenery ; and R. ery- 



throxylon, the Red-wooded Buck- 

 thorn, is very ornamental as a tufted 

 bush among rocks near water. R. 

 Frdngula, and R. latifolius, are low 

 trees. All the species are quite hardy, 

 and will grow in any common garden- 

 soil, and in any situation that is tole- 

 rably dry ; and they are all easily 

 propagated by seeds and layers. 



Rhf/xia. — Melastomacece. — Flerb- 

 aceous and shrubby plants, natives 

 of America. R. virginica, which is 

 the handsomest species, is quite hardy 

 in peat earth, in a moist situation, and 

 it produces its showy pink, or rather 

 rose-coloured flowers, with conspicu- 

 ous yellow stamens, in July and Au- 

 gust. The leaves are strongly ribbed 

 as in all the Melastomaceae, and 

 slightly edged with pink. The 

 shrubby species are more tender than 

 the herbaceous ones, and they are 

 generally kept in a greenhouse. 



Rhi'psalis. — Cdctece. — Very curi- 

 ous succulent plauts, which are na- 

 tives of both the East and West 

 Indies. As the Opuntias may be 

 said to be all leaves, and the differ- 

 ent kinds of tree Cereus all stem, so 

 the Rhipsalis may be considered all 

 branches ; for the whole plant con- 

 sists of a series of short round articu- 

 lated branches, spreading in all direc- 

 tions. The flowers of this genus 

 differ from those of the Cacti gene- 

 rally, in being small and not very 

 handsome. They are generally yel- 

 low. The species should all be grown 

 in brick rubbish and sandy loam, and 

 they should have very little water. 

 The cuttings must be dried by laying 

 them on a shelf for two or three days 

 before they are planted. 



Rhizo'phora. — Rhizophbrece. — 

 The Mangrove. These curious trees 

 are natives of Madagascar and South 

 Africa, where they are found growing 

 on the sea-coast, and in marshy places 

 on the banks of rivers. The seeds 

 germinate in the capsule, and sending 



