CHAP. CXVI,

ailia'cete. ifu'sCUS.

2517

wise; but it will hardly endure our cold climate.” There are plants atMessrs. Loddiges’s.

• 3. A. aphy'llus. The leafless, or prickled Asparagus.

Identification. Lin. Sp. PI , 450.; Reich.,2. 70.; Mart. Mill., No. 10.; Ait. Hort. Kew., No. 11.

Synonymes. Corriida altera Clus. Hist., 2. p. 178.; A. petrre'a, Prickly Roche Asparagus, Park.Theat.

Engraving. Park. Theat., 454. f. 4.

Spec. Char., S;c. Stem regular, shrubby. Leaves or spines awl-shaped,diverging. ( Willd .) A shrub, with many weak irregular shoots, which

have no leaves, but, instead ot' them, are armed with short stiff' spines, infascicles of 4 or 5 together, and spreading out from each other every way.The flowers are small, and greenish ; and the berries, which are larger thanthose of the common sort, are black when ripe. A native of the south ofEurope. Introduced in 1640. We observed it, in 1819, common in thehedges by the road sides, in various parts of Tuscany.

Variety,

m A. a. 2 creticus fruticosus, $c., Tourn. Inst.,i. 27.3. — Somewhat moreligneous than the species.

sk 4. A. (a.) acutifo'lius L. The acute-leaved Asparagus.

Identification. Lin. Sp., 449.; Reich., 2. 70.; Mart. Mill., No. 8.; Ait. Hort. Kew,, ed. 2., 2. p. 275.

Synonymes. A. Corriida Scop. Carn., No. 417., Vill. Dauph., 2. p. 275. ; A. fb). acbtis Bauh. Pin.,490.; A. sylvtfstris Cam. Epit., 260., Matth., 349.; A. petra'us Ger. Emac., 1110., Rati Hist., 683.;Corriida 1. Clus. Hist., 2. 177., Bauh. Pin. Hist., 3. 726.

Spec. Char., $c. Stem unarmed, angular, shrubby Leaves needle-shaped, rather rigid, perennial,mucronate, equal. (Willd.) This species has crooked shrubby stems, with white bark, which rise4 ft. or 5 ft. high, but have no spines on them ; the leaves come out in clusters, like those of thelarch: they are very short, and in sharp prickles. Scopoli thinks that this may be the same asLinnaeus’s A. aph^llus; what are above called leaves, being, in fact, only spines, which are con-sidered by botanists as abortive shoots. It is a native of Spain and Portugal, and was cultivatedbefore 1739, by Miller. We have not seen the plant.

%, 5. A. iio'rridus L. The horrid -spirted Asparagus.

Identification. Lin. Syst., 333.; Reich., 2. 70., Supp., 203.; Mart. Mill., No. 9.

Synonyme. A. hisp&nica Tourn. Inst., 300.

Spec. Char., Sfc. Stem shrubby, five-cornered. Prickles four-cornered, compressed, striated. Thespines of this plant are said to be 2 in. or 3 in. in length, whence the name. It is a twining shrub,and was introduced in 1800. We have not seen the plant.

Genus II.

R U'SCUS L. The Butcher’s Broom. Lin. Syst. Dioe'cia Triandria.

Identification. Lin. Gen., 534.; Juss., 42. ; FI. Br., 1073.; Tourn., t. 15.: Lam., t. 815.: Gajrtn ,t. 16.

Synonymes. Fragon, Fr .; Mausedorn, Ger.

Derivation. It is said to have been anciently called Bruscus, from beux, box, and kelem, holly(Celtic), box holly; or from buxus, box. Some suppose it to be derived from russus, flesh-coloured ;alluding to the colour of the fruit. The word ruscus was, however, applied to any prickly plantby the ancient Romans, as ruscus sylvestris, the holly, &c,

Description, §c. Though, in a practical point of view, the species in Britishgardens are treated as evergreen shrubs, yet, in a strict sense, they arebiennial plants, like the raspberry and the bramble. Popularly, they areevergreen undershrubs, and one a climber. They have stiff sharp-pointedleaves, on which the flowers and fruit of the plant are produced, except inR. racemosus. Natives of Britain and other parts of Europe, and of Africa.Soil and culture the same as those of Smilax and Asparagus. Though the berrycontains the rudiments of several seeds, they are generally all abortive butone. Sphafria atrovirens and S. JJusci Fr. are occasionally found upon thedifferent species of this genus.

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