Flora Medica

RHAMNUS.Stamens with ovate 2-celled anthers. Torus thin, lining the tubeof the calyx. Ovary free from the calyx, and not immersed inthe torus, 2 3-4-celled. Styles 2-4, more or less connected ordistinct. Fruit fleshy, containing 2-4- indehiscent cartilaginousnuts ;one of them occasionally abortive. Shrubs or smalltrees. Leaves alternate orrarely opposite, stipuled, shortstalked,feather-nerved. W. and A.326. R. catharticus Linn. sp. pi 279. Eng. Bot. t. 1629.Woodv. 1. 1 1 4. DC. prodr.ii. 24. S. and C. 1. 1 1 9.Hedgesand woods throughout Europe. (Buckthorn.)Branches alternate, or nearly opposite, spreading, straight, round,smooth, hard, and rigid, each terminating in a strong spine, after thefirst year. Leaves deciduous, bright green, smooth, ribbed ; the youngones downy: the earlier ones in tufts from the flowering buds ; therest opposite, on the young branches. Footstalks downy. Stipuleslinear. Flowers yellowish-green, on the last year's branches, numerous ;the fertile ones with narrow petals, rudiments of stamens, and a deeply4-cleft style ;barren ones with an abortive ovary, and broader petals.Berries globular, blueish-black, nauseous, with 4 cells, and as manyseeds; by which last character they are easily known, by druggists,from the fruit of R. Frangula, which is supposed to be less active. Theunripe berries dye yellow. Smith. Fruits violently purgative, but producecolic ; they are powerful hydragogue cathartics, 15 or 20 causingabundant evacuation :only given in some kinds of dropsy. The syrupusually prescribed in doses of 1 to 2 ounces.327. R. Frangula Linn, sp.pl. 280. E. Bot. t. 250. or BlackAlder, a common wild shrub, lias emetic fruit.328. R. infectorius Linn. mant. 49. DC. prodr.ii. 24.(Clus. hist. i. 111. ic.)Wild places in the South of Europe,among rocks.A dwarf shrub, with a tough woody root ;branches much entangled,procumbent. Flowers and leaves all out of the same bud. Leaves ovatelanceolate,short-stalked, smooth ;with very narrow, subulate, deciduousstipules. Flowers small, always unisexual, each on a long slenderstalk. Calyx yellowish green, tubular, half 4-cleft. Petals 4, of thesame colour, very narrow, half bifid. Fruit black, obovate, 2-3-celled,2-3-seeded. The unripe fruit is dried and sold under the name ofFrench berries, or Graines D' Avignon ; it is used for dying Maroquinleather yellow, and is purgative like R. Frangula.329. R. saxatilis Linn. sp. pi. 1671. Jacq. austr. t. 53, anearly allied species, with more erect branches, or more probablya mere variety, has similar properties; so have330. R. amygdalinus Desf. all. i. 198.331. R. oleoides Linn. sp. 279.332. R. buxifolius Poir. diet. iv. 463.333. R. pubescens Poir. diet. iv. 464.167 M 4