Cil. EL.T'AGNACE.li. 543 



Order CXI. EL^AGNACEJE. 



Trees or shrubs with copious silvery or brown scales. Leaves 

 alternate or opposite, quite entire ; stipules 0. Elowers small, regular, 

 hermaphrodite or dioecious, axillary (rarely from the leafless nodes), 

 fasciculate, spicate or racemose; bracts small, deciduous. Perianth in 

 the hermaphrodite or female flowers tubular, constricted above the 

 ovarj', persistent below, deciduous above ; limb 2-4-lobed (rarely 

 truncate). Stamens in hermaphrodite flowers adiiate to the throat of 

 the perianth, in male flowers adnate to the base of tlie perianth, 4 

 alternate with, or 8 both opposite to and alternate with the perianth- 

 lobes ; filaments free, usually short ; anthers oblong, 2-celled, the cells 

 parallel, contiguous, dehiscing longitudinally ; staminodes in female 

 flowers 0. Ovary free, 1-celled ; ovule solitary, erect, basal, anatropous ; 

 style terminal, linear or dilated above, oblique ; stigma lateral. Fruit a 

 nut closely covered by the thickened berry-like perianth-base ; pericarp 

 membranous. Seed erect ; testa hard ; albumen scanty or ; coty- 

 ledons thick, fleshy ; radicle inferior, very short. — Distrib. North 

 temperate and tropical regions ; genera 3 ; species 1 6. 



1. EL^AGNUS, Linn. 



Trees or shrubs often silvery with a scaly or stellate toraentum. 

 Flowers hermaphrodite, axillary, shortly petiolate, solitary or 2-3-nate, 

 or sometimes fasciculate on short leafless or leafy branchlets ; bracts 0. 

 Perianth Avith oblong or globose persistent base narrowed above the 

 ovary, then campanulate or infundibuliform, valvately 4-fld at the apex, 

 deciduous, usually with a prominent ring above the constriction within. 

 Stamens 4, on the mouth of the perianth ; filaments short. Ovary 

 1-celled ; style linear, included, slightly dilated above ; stigma lateral. 

 Fruit enclosed in the persistent accrescent berried or rarely dry peiianth- 

 base ; pericarp thinly membranous. Seed with hard shining testa; 

 albumen or very scanty. — Distrib. S. Europe, Temperate and Tropical 

 Asia, AustraHa, N. America ; species about 12. 



1. Elaeagnus latifolia, Linn. Sp. PL (1753) p. 121. A large, 

 much-branched, usually scandent shrub, often running over high trees ; 

 trunk sometimes 4 in. or more in diam. ; young shoots scurfy with 

 rust-colored shining scales ; stems and branches more or less spinous ; 

 bark smooth with corky excrescences. Leaves numerous, variable, thin 

 or coriaceous, lg-4 by |-2 in., from broadly elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, 

 obtuse, acute or acuminate, the upper surface pale-green clothed with 

 small whitish scurfy scales, the lower surface glistening silvery-«hite, 

 margins more or less revolute, base acute or rounded; petioles J-g in, 

 long, scaly. Flowers usually many in a cluster, straw-colored ; pedicels 

 clotShed with silvery scales. Perianth ^ in. long, covered with silvery 

 scales ; lobes ovate, acute, g in. long, spreading. Style hairy. Fruit 

 nearly 1 in. long, ellipsoid, with 8 strong blunt ribs, crowned by the 

 top of the perianth, pinkish, with small whitish scabrous spots ; meso- 

 carp succulent, edible; putamen white, clothed inside with white wool. 

 Seed I in. long. Fl. B. I. v. 5, p. 202 ; Wight, Icon. t. 185C ; Bedd. 



