58 LAURACEZ. [ CassyTHa. 
thrives fairly well in Dehra Dun, and in the Government Garden at 
Saharanpur. 
PERSEA GRATISSIMA, Gertn. 7. (The Avocada or Alligator Pear). A 
native of Trop. S. America. It is cultivated in Indian gardens. The 
pear-shaped fruit, about 4-6 in. long, contains a single seed which is 
embedded in a soft pulp. 
Laurus nosiuis, Linn. (Sweet Bay or Laurel).—A small slow-growing 
evergreen tree of the Mediterranean region, and well-known on 
account of its aromatic leaves. 
XCVI.—_ELAAGNACEZ:, 
Shrubs or trees, copiously covered with silvery or brown scales 
Leaves alternate or opposite, entire, exstipulate, usually coriaceous. 
Flowers small, regular, 2-sexual or dicecious, arranged in axillary 
fascicles spikes or racemes, rarely from leafless axils ; bracts small, 
deciduous or none. Perianth in 2-sexual or female flowers tubular, 
narrowed above the ovary and persistent below, deciduous above ; 
limb 2-4-lobed, rarely truncate ; perianth in male flowers reduced 
to a 2-4-lobed limb. Stamens of 2-sexual flowers adnate to the 
throat of the perianth, those of the male flowers adnate to the base, 
of the perianth, 4 alternate with or 8 both opposite to or alternate 
with the perianth-lobes; filaments free, usually short; anther 
oblong, 2-celled ; cells parallel, contiguous, staminodes in fem. 
flowers none. Ovary free, 1-celled ; style terminal, linear or dilated 
above, stigma lateral; ovule solitary, erect, basal, anatropous. 
Fruit a nut, enclosed in the perianth-tube. Seed erect, testa hard, 
albumen scanty or none, embryo straight ; cotyledons thick, fleshy ;. 
radicle inferior, very short.—Species 17, in north temperate and 
tropical regions. 
ELZAGNUS, Linn.; Fl. Brit. Ind, v, 291. 
Flowers 2-sexual, solitary or 2-3-nate, or sometimes on short 
leafless or leafy branchlets, bracts none. Perianth with an oblong 
or globose persistent base, narrowed above the ovary into a cam- 
panulate or funnel-shaped deciduous limb, yellow or white within, 
valvately 4-lobed and usually with a prominent ring inside above 
