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RHAMNUS CATHARTICUS. 
Purging Buckthorn.* 
Class Pentandria. —Or(7er Monogynia. 
Nat. Ord. DuMOS^, Linn. Rhamni, Juss. 
Gen. Char. Calyx tubular. Corolla none. Scales de- 
fending the stamens, inserted into the calyx. 
Spec. Char, Leaves ovate, serrated. Thorns terminal. 
F/ower* four-cleft, dioecious. Berra/ four-seeded. 
This species of buckthornt is a native of Britain, commonly 
found growing in woods and hedges near brooks, flowering from 
May to June, and ripening its fruit the latter end of September and 
October. This shrub rises to the height of seven or eight feet ; the 
stem is strong, woody, and much branched ; the branches terminate 
in sharp strong spines ; the leaves in facicles, are ovate, pointed, 
nerved, finely serrated, and stand upon short petioles ; the younger 
ones downy ; the flowers arise from the same buds as the leaves, are 
placed in clusters, and sustained on peduncles ; there is no corolla ; 
the calyx is of a greenish yellow colour, four-cleft, and pointed ; the 
stamens (in the male flowers) are short ; the filaments arise from the 
base of a small convex scale, and support round anthers. The female 
flowers consist of a calyx, similar to the male, and enclose the 
germen, which is round, supporting a slender style, and four-cleft 
stigma ; the fruit is a round black berry, about the size of a pea 
* Fig. a. represents a female flower, magnified, b. A male flower, c. A section 
of a berry, shewing the seeds, d. A male flower, magnified, and spread open to shew 
the stamens. 
t Twentj-one species of this genus are known andcaltivated in our botanic gardens, 
of which the Rhamnus Catharticus, and Rhamnus Frangula, or berry bearing alder, 
are the only native species ; the inner barit of the latter is both emetic and cathartic, 
but is seldom used medicinally ; formerly it was an oflicinal medicine in some of the 
foreign pharmacopoeias. The berries of the Rhamnus Infeotoria. (a native of the south 
of Europe) are much used for dying yellow, and are imported into this country under 
the name of French berries, — Ed. 
