SAURURACE^. (lIZARD's-TAIL FAMILY.) 397 



4. BUCKLEYA, Torn 



Flowers dicecious. Calyx club-shaped, the limb double, each 4-parted ; the 

 exterior lobes linear, leafy, somewhat persistent, the interior triangular-ovate, 

 slightly imbricated in the bud, deciduous. Stamens of the sterile flower 4. 

 Disk of the fertile flower 4-lobed, fleshy. Style short : stigma 4-lobed. Drupe 

 oblong, compressed, furrowed. Embryo slender, in the axis of copious fleshy 

 albumen. — An erect shrub, with straight and slender branches. Leaves scarcely 

 petioled, nearly opposite, distichous, lanceolate, acute, pubescent. Flowers ter- 

 minal, greenish, the sterile ones umbellate, the fertile solitary. 



1 . B. distichophylla, Torr. — Mountains of North Carolina, Bucklei/. — 

 Shrub 6° -7° high. Leaves thin, I'-l^' long. Calyx-tube 4"-i" long, 

 scarcely longer than the exterior spreading lobes, much longer than the inner 

 ones. Dnipe j' long. 



Order 114. LORANTHACE7E. (Mistletoe Family.) 



Parasitical shrubby plants, with evergreen almost veinless leaves, with- 

 out stipules, and perfect or dioecious flowers. — Calyx of 2 - 8 sepals, dis- 

 tinct or united into a tube, valvate in the bud, sometimes wanting. Sta- 

 mens as many as the sepals and opposite them. Ovary 1-celled, commonly 

 with a single suspended ovule. Style simple or none. Fruit berry-like. 

 Seeds anatropous. Embryo longer than the fleshy albumen. 



1. PHORADENDRON, Nutt. Mistletoe. 



Flowers dinecious, in short jointed spikes. Calyx of the sterile flower globular, 

 2 -4-lobed. Anthers sessile at the base of the lobes, transversely 2-celled. 

 Calyx of the fertile flower adnata to the ovary. Stigma sessile. Berry globose, 

 pulpy, 1-seeded. — Evergreen shrubs, growing on the branches of various trees, 

 with brittle jointed stems, thick persistent leaves, and small flowers in axillary 

 spikes. 



1. P. flavescens, Nutt. ( Viscum flave.scens, ParsA.) — Florida to Missis- 

 sippi, and northward. April and May. — Plant yellowish, 2° - 3° long. 

 Branches opposite or whorled. Leaves obovate, fleshy. Spikes shorter than 

 the leaves. Berry white, glutinous. 



Order 115. SAURURACE^. (Lizard's-tail Family.) 



Perennial marsh herbs, with jointed stems, alternate entire leaves, with 

 sheathing stipules, and perfect flowers in bracted spikes or racemes. — 

 Calyx and corolla none. Stamens few or many, hypogynous : anthers 

 introrse, opening lengthwise. Ovaries 3-5, more or less united. Ovules 

 few, orthotropous, ascending. Embryo minute, cordate, contained in a 

 cavity at the apex of the albumen. Fruit follicular, 1 - few-seeded. 

 34 



