164 LYTHRACEAE 



1. Shepherdia canadensis (L.) Nutt. Canadian Buffalo-berry. Fig. 3344. 



Hippophae canadensis L. Sp. PI. 1024. 1753. 

 Shepherdia canadensis l^utt. Gen. 2:240. 1818. 

 Lepargyraea canadensis Greene, Pittonia 2: 122. 1890. 



Erect shrub 1-3 m. high, the branchlets not thorny, silvery-scurfy and brown-scurfy when 

 young. Leaves ovate to oblong-oval, 2.5—6 cm. long, green and glabrous above or somewhat 

 silvery-stellate when young, densely silvery-stellate and brown-scurfy-dotted beneath; flowers 

 brown without, greenish yellow within, 4-5 mm. broad; fruit broadly ellipsoid, 4-6 mm. long, 

 red or yellow, insipid. 



Moist woods or stream banks, Canadian Zone; Alaska south along the coast to western Washington, and east 

 of the Cascade Mountains to Grant County, Oregon, east to the Newfoundland, New York, Michigan, Colorado, 

 and Utah. Type locality: Canada. April-June. Bitter Buffalo-berry. 



2. Shepherdia argentea Nutt. Silvery Buffalo-berry. Fig. 3345. 



Elaeagnus argentea Nutt. in Eraser's Cat. 1813. (Nomen nudum.) 

 Hippophae argentea Pursh, Fl. Amer. Sept. 115. 1814. 

 Shepherdia argentea Nutt. Gen. 2: 241. 1818. 

 Lepargyraea argentea Greene, Pittonia 2: 122. 1890. 

 Elaeagnus titilis A. Nels. Amer. Journ. Bot. 22: 682. 1935. 



Shrub or small tree 2-6 m. high, the branches often terminating in thorns. Leaves oblong 

 or oblong-lanceolate, 2.5-5 cm. long, obtuse at the apex, usually cuneate at base, densely silvery- 

 scurfy on both sides; petioles 4-12 mm. long; flowers appearing before the leaves, fascicled at 

 the nodes, brown, 4-5 mm. broad, the pistillate scurfy on the back; fruit broadly ellpisoid, 4-6 

 mm. long, scarlet to golden-yellow, acid. 



Along streams or washes, Arid Transition and Upper Sonoran Zones; Alberta and Manitoba to Kansas and 

 New Mexico; Nevada and southeastern Oregon south to eastern and southern California. Type locality: "On the 

 banks of the Missouri." Collected by Lewis of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. April-May. Sour Buffalo-berry. 



Family 105. LYTHRACEAE. 



Loosestrife Family, 



Herbs, shrubs, or, in tropical regions, often trees. Leaves opposite, verticillate 

 or rarely alternate, usually exstipulate. Flowers solitary or clustered, perfect, regu- 

 lar. Calyx persistent, free from the ovary, but the tube often enclosing it, 4-6- 

 toothed often with accessory teeth in the sinuses. Petals when present as many as 

 the primary calyx-teeth, inserted with the stamens on the calyx-tube. Anthers ver- 

 satile, longitudinally dehiscent. Ovary 2-6-celled, or rarely 1 -celled ; style 1 ; stigma 

 2-lobed; ovules many or rarely few, anatropous. Capsule 1- to several-celled, vari- 

 ously dehiscent or indehiscent. Seeds without endosperm. 



A family of 21 genera and about 400 species. 



Calyx-tube short, campanulate or hemispheric; leaves opposite; petals 4. 



Flowers solitary in the axils; capsule septicidally dehiscent; leaves, in ours, narrowed at base, not auriculate- 



clasping. 1- Rotala. ■ 



Flowers usually more than one in the axils; capsule bursting irregularly; leaves, in ours, auriculate-clasping. 



2. Ammannta. 



Calyx-tube cylindric; petals usually 6; leaves mainly alternate. 3. Ly thrum. 



1. ROTAlA L. Mant. 2: 175. 1771. 



Low annual mosdy glabrous herbs, with 4-angled stems. Leaves opposite or verticil- 

 late, usually sessile. Flowers solitary in the leaf -axils, small, 4-nierous ; calyx-tube cam- 

 panulate or globose, 4-lobed with accessory teeth in the sinuses. Petals 4, attached to the 

 rim of the calyx-tube. Stamens 4, attached rather low on the calyx-tube ; filaments short. 

 Capsule spherical, enclosed by the membranous calyx, 4-celled, septicidally dehiscent. 

 Seeds many, minute, angled. [Name Ladn, meaning wheel, in reference to the verticil- 

 late leaves in the type species.] 



A genus of about 40 species, of wide geographical distribution, especially in tropical regions. Type species, 

 Rotala verticillaris L. 



1. Rotala ramosior (L.) Koehne. Tooth-cup. Fig. 3346. 



Ammannia ramosior L. Sp. PI. 120. 1753. 



Ammannia hnmilis Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer. 1 : 99. 1803. 



Boykinia humilis Raf. Aut. Bot. 9. 1840. 



Rotala ramosior Koehne in Mart. Fl. Bras. 13-: 194. 1875. 



Stems branched from the base or simple, erect or ascending, 5-30 cm. high, 4-angled. Leaves 

 opposite, oblong or linear-oblong, 10-35 cm. long, narrowed to a sessile base or to a short petiole. 



