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CHAP. 76.—THE RHAMNOS; TWO VARIETIES OF IT: FIVE REMEDIES.

Among the several kinds1 of bramble is reckoned the plant called "rhamnos" by the Greeks. One variety of it is whiter2 than the other, and has a more shrublike appearance, throwing out branches armed with straight thorns, and not hooked, like those of the other kinds; the leaves too are larger. The other kind,3 which is found growing wild, is of a more swarthy hue, in some measure inclining to red; it bears too a sort4 of pod. With the root of it boiled in water a medicament is made, known as "lycium:"5 the seed of it is useful for bringing away the after-birth. The white kind, however, is of a more astringent and cooling nature, and better adapted for the treatment of gatherings and wounds. The leaves of both kinds, either raw or boiled, are employed topically with oil.

1 In reality, as Fée says, there is no botanical affinity between the Rubus, or bramble, and the Rhamnus.

2 Sprengel identifies this plant with the Zizyphus vulgaris of Linnæus, the jujube, and Desfontaines is of the same opinion. Fée , however, takes it to be the Rhamnus saxatilis of Linnæus, the rock buckthorn.

3 Identified by some authorities with the Paliurus aculeatus of Decandolles, mentioned in c. 71. Sprengel is in doubt whether it may not be the Rhamnus lycioides of Linnæus.

4 Not a characteristic, Fée says, of the genus Rhamnus of modern Botany.

5 Or "Lycian" extract. See B. xii. c. 15.

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