388 
Rhamnus  Purshiana. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
(  September,  1914. 
alnifolia  by  L'Heritier,  Rhamnus  alnifolia  by  Pursh,  and  Rhamnus 
Purshiana  by  de  Candolle,  as  copied  in  Latin  by  John  Uri  Lloyd  from 
the  original  works  in  the  Lloyd  Library,  Cincinnati,  Ohio  • 
Rhamnus  alnifolius  (L'Heritier,  "  Sertulum,"  p.  5),  erect;  leaves 
oval,  serrulate,  veins  straight,  pointed  obliquely  toward  the  end,  under 
surface  smooth,  with  flowers  dioecious ;  peduncle  one  flowered,  with 
calyx  acute,  fruit  top  shaped. 
Rhamnus  alnifolius  (Pursh),  R.  inermis  (unarmed  or  without 
thorns)  ;  leaves  oval,  denticulate,  short  acuminate;  base  cordate  and 
slightly  curved,  veins  underneath  covered  with  hairs;  peduncle  split 
twice  into  two  parts,  berry  globose  but  depressed.  On  the  banks  of 
the  river  Kooskooskee.  Berries  purple,  very  highly  esteemed  by  the 
Indians  of  that  country.  (Pursh  s  "  Flora  American  Septentrionalis," 
vol.  1,  1814,  p.  166.) 
Rhamnus  Purshianus  (de  Candolle  J,  erect;  leaves  oval,  denticu- 
late, short  acuminate,  cordate  and  slightly  curved,  veins  underneath 
covered  with  hairs,  peduncle  split  twice  into  two  parts,  berry  globose 
but  depressed.  On  the  banks  of  the  river  Kooskooskee.  Rhamnus 
alnifolius  (Pursh,  "Flora,"  vol.  1,  p.  166,  not  L'Heritier)  ("  Pro- 
dromits  Systematis  Naturalis  Regni  Vegetabilis,"  by  de  Candolle, 
vol.  2,  1825,  p.  25). 
Johann  Friedrich  (Iwan  Iwanowitsch)  Eschscholtz,  a  Russian 
naturalist,  discovered  the  plant  on  the  shores  of  San  Francisco  Bay, 
California,  in  1816,  and  it  was  described  by  him  in  the  "  Memoirs  of 
the  Academy  of  St.  Petersburg,"  vol.  10,  .1826. 
Prof.  C.  S.  Sargent  ("  Notes  on  North  America  Trees,"  vol.  23; 
Garden  and  Forest,  Feb.  18,  p.  75;  The  Pacific  Druggist,  April  15, 
1891)  states  that  in  1838  Rafinesque  describes  in  the  "  Silva  Tellu- 
riana  "  his  Personon  Laurifolium,  his  description  being  drawn  from 
a  plant  which  he  found  in  Bartram's  Botanic  Gardens,  in  Philadel- 
phia. It  is  a  tree,  he  says,  from  the  Oregon  mountains  with  elliptical, 
acute,  sub-entire,  shining,  glabrous  leaves  pubescent  on  the  lower 
surface  when  young,  reniform  petals,  and  slight  emarginate 
stigma.  The  plant  in  Bartram's  Gardens  was  twenty  feet  high, 
and  the  berries  formed  fine  clusters  and  assumed  three  colors,  being 
by  turn  green,  red,  and  black  when  fully  ripe.  This  is  the  earliest 
record  of  the  cultivation  of  Rhamnus  Purshiana,  for  there  does  not 
seem  to  be  much  doubt  that  it  was  this  plant  that  Rafinesque  had  in 
mind.  Certainly  there  is  no  other  tree  from  the  mountains  of 
Oregon  which  could  be  made  to  answer  to  this  description.   If  Lewis 
