the buckthorn; a genus of the monogynia order, belonging to the pentandra class of plants. There are 20 species; of which the most remarkable are,

1. The catharticus, or common purging buckthorn, growing naturally in some parts of Britain. This grows to the height of 12 or 14 feet, with many irregular branches at the extremities. The leaves are oval-lanceolate, finely serrated on the edges, their nerves converging together. The flowers grow in clusters, one on each footstalk, white, and, in this species, divided into four segments; the fruit is a round black berry, containing four seeds. The juice of the berries is a strong purgative, and is made use of for making the common syrup of buckthorn kept in the shops. The bark is emetic; the juice of the unripe berries with alum dyes yellow, of the ripe ones green; the bark also dyes yellow.

2. The lotus, famous in the Odyssey of Homer for its enchanting property, by which those who eat of it forget their country and relations. Dr Shaw, in his travels into Barbary, had frequent opportunities of examining this shrub. He says, "This shrub, which is very common in the Jerceed, and other parts of Barbary, has the leaves, prickles, flowers, and fruit of the xizyphus or jube; only with this difference, that the fruit is here round, smaller, and more luscious, and at the same time the branches, like those of the palmarus, are neither so much jointed nor crooked." The fruit is in great repute, tastes something like gingerbread. bread, and is sold in the markets all over the southern districts of these kingdoms. The Arabs call it anbenta el fedra, or the jube of the fedras; which Olavus Celsins had so high an opinion of, that he has described it as the dudum of the scriptores." It is proper, however, to distinguish between this shrub and an herb often mentioned by the ancients under the name of lotus, which Homer mentions as being fed upon by the horses of Achilles, and Virgil as proper to increase the milk of sheep.