in botany: A genus of the monogynia order, belonging to the pentandria clasf of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 43d order, Durose. The corolla is pentapetalous and patent; the capsule quinquangular and trilocular; the seeds veiled. There are 11 species; two of which are endured to our climate.

1. The bullatus, an uncertain deciduous shrub, is a native of Virginia. It is about four feet in growth, rising from the ground with several stalks, which divide into many branches, and are covered with a brownish bark. The leaves are of a fine green colour, and grow alternately on the branches. They are of an oval figure, and have their edges undivided. The flowers are produced in July, at the ends of the branches, in loose spikes. They are of a white colour, and in their native countries are succeeded by very ornamental scarlet fruit; but with us this seldom happens. It is easily propagated from seeds sown, about an inch deep, in beds of good fresh mould made fine. They seldom come up until the second, and sometimes not before the third spring. It is also propagated by layers; which work must be performed on the young wood, in the autumn, by a slit at the joint. These layers may be expected to strike root by the autumn following; when they may be taken up and planted in the nursery-ground. This shrub must have a well-sheltered situation, otherwise the leaves are apt to fall off at the approach of frothy weather. And Millar says, that, growing naturally in moist places, it will not thrive well in a dry soil.

2. The scandens, or ballard euonymus, with woody, twining stalks, rising by the help of neighbouring trees or bushes to the height of 12 feet. The leaves are oblong, serrated, of a pleasant green colour, pale, and veined underneath, and grow alternately on the branches. The flowers are produced in small bunches, from the sides of the branches, near the ends. They are of a greenish colour, appear in June; and are succeeded by roundish, red, three-cornered capsules, containing ripe seeds, in the autumn. This species is exceeding hardy, and makes a beautiful appearance among other trees in the autumn, by their beautiful red berries, Celastrus, which much resemble those of the Spindle-tree, and will be produced in vast profusion on the tops of other trees, to the height of which these plants by their twisting property aspire. They should not be planted near weak or tender trees, to climb on; for they embrace the stalks so closely as to bring on death to any but the hardiest trees and shrubs. It is propagated,

1. By laying down the young shoots in the spring. By the autumn they will have struck root, and may then be taken off and set in the places where they are designed to remain.

2. By seeds; which should be soon sown after they are ripe, otherwise they will be two or sometimes three years before they come up. When they make their appearance, nothing more need be done than keeping them clear from weeds all summer and the winter following; and in the spring the strongest plants may be drawn out, and set in the nursery for a year, and then removed to the places where they are designed to remain; whilst the weakest, being left in the seed-bed one year more, may undergo the same discipline.

In Senegal the negroes use the powder of the root as a specific against gonorrhoeas, which it is said to cure in eight or sometimes in three days. An infusion of the bark of a species of staff-tree, which grows in the Isle of France, is said to possess the same virtues.