1326

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUJVT.

PART Ill.

but 3 francs ; specimens were formerly sold at 60 francs each, and one of thosefirst discovered was sold for 200 francs.” ( Spence in Mag. Nat. Hist. , vol. iv.,for 1830, p. 148.) A shrub so common throughout Europe and Asia couldnot escape being known to the Greeks and Romans; but to what use theyapplied it is uncertain. In modern times, its leaves form the food of sheep, inpoor maritime pastures, where the sheep sometimes also eat the berries. InDauphiny, a decoction is made of these berries, which is used for the same pur-pose as that made from the berries of the Solanum Dulcamara, in Wales ;viz., to remove cutaneous eruptions. According to Pallas, the berries ofthe sea buckthorn are gratefully acid, and are much eaten by the Tartars ,who make a jelly or preserve of them, and serve them up with milk orcheese, as great dainties. The fishermen of the Gulf of Bothnia prepare arob, or jam, from them, which imparts a grateful flavour to fresh fish; and akind of sauce is also made from them in the south of France . In someparts of France and Switzerland they are considered poisonous. J. J. Rous-seau, in his Reverie du Promeneur Solitaire, vii. Promenade, relates a curiousstory respecting his having made a botanical excursion in the neighbourhoodof Grenoble , with a local botanist, who, though he saw him eating thefruit, which he knew, or believed to be, poisonous, was so polite, or regardedRousseau with so much respect, that he durst not presume to warn him ofhis danger. In Britain , and on the Continent, the sea buckthorn is some-times planted as hedges; and, as it endures the sea breeze, and throws up suck-ers freely from the roots, it is a useful plant for fixing drift sands, along with thegrasses Psamma, .E'lymus, Carex, &c., and also for producing woody sceneryin marine situations, where few other trees or shrubs will grow. In pleasure-grounds, when trained to a single stem, it forms a small, durable, and veryinteresting tree, from the dull pewter-like tinge of its foliage in summer, and thefine effect of its berries in autumn; but it must be recollected that the berrieswill not be produced unless both sexes are planted contiguously. As theflowers, especially those of the male plants, come out very early in the season,their buds, which are in spikes, have a conspicuous appearance during winter,and contrast finely with the fruit on the female plants, which remains onthrough the winter, after the leaves drop offi unless it is eaten by birds.In British nurseries, plants are com-monly increased by suckers, whichare produced in abundance; and adeep sandy soil is suitable for grow-ing the plant to a large size. It maybe planted in elevated and exposedsituations and on the sea coast, wherefew other trees will grow.

i a 2. H. salicifo'lia D. Don.

The Willow-leaved Hippophae,

Sea Buckthorn, or Sallowthorn.

Identification. Don Prod. FI. Nep , p. 68.; f.oddCat. , ed. 1836.

Synonyme. H. conferta Wall, in MSS. of theCatalogue of the Lintusan Society's IndianHerbarium, Royle's Illust., p. 323.

Engraving. Our fig. 1207.

Spec. Char., <$-c. Without thorns, up-right, branched. Leaves lanceolate,obtuse, whitely tomentose, as arethe branchlets. A native of Siri-nagur, in Nepal , whence it wasintroduced in 1822. Judging fromthe plants in the Horticultural So-ciety’s Garden, and in the arbo- 1207

return of Messrs. Loddiges, it appears to be a much more robustspecies than H. Rhamnoides, though probably more liable to be injured by