Genus 2. 



MEZEREON FAMILY. 



575 



I. Dirca paliistris L. Leather- or 



Leaver-wood. Moose-wood. 



Wicopy. Fig. 2994. 



Dirca paliistris L. Sp. PI. 358. I753- 



A shrub, 2-6 high, the twigs yellowish 

 green, glabrous, jointed. Leaves oval, or 

 obovate, obtuse at the apex, rounded or 

 narrowed at the base, pubescent when 

 young, glabrous, or very nearly so, and 

 2-3' long when mature; bud-scales 3 or 4, 

 oval, or oblong, very pubescent with brown 

 hairs, deciduous; peduncle about 25" long; 

 flowers nearly sessile, expanding before the 

 leaves; perianth 2"-3" long; style longer 

 than the stamens; drupe about 6" long 



In woods and thickets, mostly in wet soil, 

 Xew Brunswick to Ontario, Minnesota, Vir- 

 ginia, Tennessee, Florida and Missouri. 

 Swamp-wood. Leather-bush. Wickup. Amer- 

 ican mezereon. Rope-bark. The bark pro- 

 duces violent vomiting; applied externally, 

 it is an irritant to the skin. April-May. 



Family 95. ELAEAGNACEAE Lindl. Nat. Syst. Ed. 2, 194. 1836. 



Oleaster Family. 



Shrubs or trees, mostly silvery-scaly, or stellate-pubesdent, with entire alternate 

 or opposite leaves, and perfect polygamous or dioecious flowers clustered in the 

 axils or at the nodes of twigs of the preceding season, rarely solitary. Lower 

 part of the perianth of perfect or pistillate flowers tubular or urn-shaped, enclos- 

 ing the ovary and persistent, the upper part 4-Iobed or 4-cleft, deciduous (obscurely 

 2-lobed in the Old World Hippophac) ; perianth of staminate flowers 4-parted 

 f2-parted in Hippophac). Corolla none Stamens 4 or 8. those of perfect flowers 

 borne on the throat of the perianth ; filaments mostly short ; anthers 2-celle(l. the 

 sacs longitudinally dehiscent. Disk annular, or lobed. Ovary sessile, I -celled; 

 ovule I, erect, anatropous ; style slender. Fruit drupe-like, the perianth-base 

 becoming thickened and enclosing the achene or nut Seed erect ; embryo straight : 

 endosperm little or wanting. 



Three known genera and about 20 species, widely distributed. 



Stamens as many as the perianth-parts ; flowers perfect or polygamous ; leaves alternate. 



I. Elacagnus. 

 Stamens twice as many as the perianth-parts ; flowers dioecious ; leaves opposite. 2. Lepargyraea. 



I. ELAEAGNUS [Tourn.] L. Sp. PI. 121. 1753. 



Silvery-scaly shrubs, some exotic species trees, with alternate petioled leaves. Flowers 

 solitary or 2-4 together in the axils, pedicelled, not bracted, perfect or polygamous. Perianth 

 tubular below, constricted over the top of the ovary, the upper part campanulate or urn- 

 shaped, 4-lobed, deciduous, the lobes valvate. Stamens 4. borne on the throat of the perianth. 

 Style linear, long. Fruit drupe-like, the ripened perianth-base fleshy or mealy, enclosing the 

 striate or prooved nut. [Greek, sacred olive] 



About 20 species, natives of Europe, Asia. Australia and North America. Only the following 

 is known in North America. Type species: Elaeagnus angustifolia L. 



