. (EUROPEAN SPINDLE-TREE OR BURNING-BUSH.)
Leaves oblong-lanceolate, serrate, smooth; flowers and fruit commonly in
threes on compressed stems; fruit usually 4-lobed, the lobes acute;
flowers greenish-white; May; fruit abundant, scarlet, ripe in
September. Generally a shrub, though sometimes tall enough (4 to 20
ft.) and trimmed so as to appear tree-like; twigs smooth, green or
reddish-green. Extensively cultivated; from Europe.

ORDER =XIV. RHAMNACEAE.=

(BUCKTHORN FAMILY.)

An order mainly of shrubs, but including in the north-eastern United
States two or three small trees.

GENUS =20. RHAMNUS.=

Shrubs or small trees with deciduous (rarely evergreen), usually
alternate (rarely opposite), pinnately veined leaves. Flowers small,
4-parted, inconspicuous, in clusters in the axils of the leaves. Fruit
berry-like, with 2 to 4 seed-like nuts.

* Branches terminating in thorns 1.

* Plant without thorns. (=A.=)

=A.= Leaves deciduous 2.

=A.= Leaves evergreen 3.

[Illustration: R. cathartica.]

1. =Rhamnus cathartica, L.= (COMMON BUCKTHORN.) Leaves ovate, minutely
serrate, alternate or many of them opposite; branchlets terminating in
thorns. Flowers greenish. Fruit globular, 1/3 in. in diameter, black
with a green juice, and 3 or 4 seeds; ripe in September. A shrub or
small tree, 10 to 15 ft. high, from Europe; cultivated for hedges, and
found wild in a few places, where it forms a small tree.

[Illustration: R. Caroliniana.]

2. Rhamnus Caroliniana, Walt. (CAROLINA BUCKTHORN.) Leaves 3 to 5 in.
long, alternate, oblong, wavy and obscurely serrulate, nearly smooth, on
slender pubescent petioles. Flowers greenish, 5-parted, solitary or in
umbellate clusters in the axils. Fruit berry-like, globular, the size of
peas, 3-seeded, black when ripe in September. A thornless shrub or small
tree, 5 to 20 ft. high. New Jersey, south and west. Usually a shrub
except in the Southern States.

[Illustration: R. Californicus.]

3. =Rhamnus Californicus=, Esch. (CALIFORNIA BUCKTHORN.) Leaves
evergreen, oval-oblong to elliptical, 1 to 4 in. long, rather obtuse,
sometimes acute, generally rounded at base, serrulate or entire. Fruit
blackish purple, with thin pulp, 1/4 in., 2- to 3-seeded. A spreading
shrub, 5 to 18 ft. high, without thorns; from California.

GENUS =21. HOVENIA.=

Leav