Amentales.] 



ELiEAGNACE^.. 



257 



Order LXXXII. ELiEAGNACEiE.— Oleasters. 



Elaeagni, Juss. Gen. 75. (1789).— Elseagnese, Ach. Rich. Monogr. (18231; Bartl. Orel. Nat.lU ; EmU. 

 Gen. cxi. j Meisner, p. 329. 



Diagnosis — Amental Exogens, with a l-celled ovary, a single ascending ovide, an inferior 

 radicle, and flowers occasionally § , or scattered. 



Trees or slirubs, usually covered with leprous seurf. Leaves alternate, or opposite, 

 entLre, without stipules. Flowers axillary, often fragrant, in catkins or even panicles. 

 Flowers $ $ , rarely . $ Flowers amentaceous, each in the axil of a scale-like 

 bract. Sepals 2-4, sometimes united in a cup ; stamens 

 3, 4, or 8, sessile ; anthers 2-celled. — ^ and Calyx free, 

 tubular, with a fleshy disk, which often closes it up, 

 persistent ; the limb entire, or 2-5-toothed. Ovary free, 

 simple, l-celled ; owXe solitary, ascending, stalked, anatropal ; 

 stigma simple, subulate, glandular. Fruit crustaceous, 

 uiclosed within the calyx Ijecorae succulent. Seed erect ; 

 embryo straight, smTounded by very thin fleshy albumen ; 

 radicle short, inferior ; cotyledons fleshy, 



Tliese plants are regarded by most botanists as being typically 

 hermaphrodite, and hence they are referred to the vicinity of 

 Daphnads; Jussieu himself excluded them from his Diclinous 

 division. But when we consider that out of the genera consti- 

 tuting them, all except Elaeagnus are <? ? it seems better to 

 station them here, as one of the connecting hnks between the 

 ^ 9 ^Jid races. Indeed, the Dichnous genera seem to 

 approach closely to Galeworts, for the quantity of albumen that 

 surrounds their embryo is too inconsiderable to be of importance. 

 Supposing that the Order of Oleasters were not regarded as uni- 

 sexual, it would then, no doubt, stand in the Perigynous Sub-class, 

 where it would be known from Daphnads by the position of 

 its ovule ; and from Proteads, by the valvate u-regular calyx, 

 and dehiscent fruit of that Order. 



The whole of the northern hemisphere, dowTi to the equator, 

 is occupied more or less by this family, from Canada and 

 Japan to Guiana and Java ; they are comparatively rare south 

 of the hue. 



The finiit of Hippophae rhamnoides is occasionally eaten as a 

 sauce with fish. Professor Santagala has, however, found that 

 it contains a fatty matter of a narcotic nature. Twelve grains 

 given to a moderate-sized dog, in a few hours prostrated the 

 strength of the animal in a most remarkable manner. — Chem. 

 Gaz. 1844, 121. That of Elseagnus orientahs is almost as large 

 as a Jujube, and is known in Persia as an article of the dessert, 

 under the name of Zinzeyd ; the drupes of E. arborea, conferta, 

 and others, are eaten in Nepal. The flowers of Elseagnus orientalis and angustifolia 

 are highly fragrant, and abound m honey which is esteemed as a remedy for mahgnant 

 fevers in some parts of Eui'ope. 



GENERA. 

 Shepherdia, Nidt. I Hippophae, Linn. I Elseagnus, Linn. 



Lepargyreia, Nutt. [ Conuleum, L. C. Rich. \ 



Fig. CLXXIII. 



Numbers. Gen. 4. Sp. 30. 



TJiymelceaceoi. 

 Position. — Myricaceee. — El^agnace^e.- 



Fig. CLXXIII.— Hippophae rhamnoides. 1. a c? flower} 2. a perpendicular section of a?: 

 3. a section of a ripe f rait. —Richard. 



