1322 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART 111. 
Engravings. Pall. Ross., 1, t. 4.; N. Du Ham.,1. t. 89.; Bot. Reg., t. 1156.; our jig. 1203., and the 
plate in our last Volume. 
Spec. Char., §c. A tree, growing to the height of from 15 ft. to 20 ft. Leaves 
lanceolate, hoary all over, as are the shoots of the current year, with stars 
of hairs of ahoary colour. Branches brown and smooth, more or less spiny. 
Leaves 2—3 in. long; upon the upper surface whitish ‘ 
green, and upon the under one very hoary. Flowers 
2 or 3 together, axillary, upon short peduncles, fragrant ; 
bisexual flower 4-cleft, interior of a pale yellow; male 
ones 5 or more cleft, interior of a golden yellow. Both 
are furnished on the exterior with stars of hairs, like the 
under surface of the leaves. Fruit of a red-brown colour, 
something like a small date. A native of the south of 
Europe, in Bohemia, France, Spain, the Levant, Tar- 
tary, and various parts of Asiatic Russia; flowering in 
May, and ripening its fruit in August. It was introduced 
in 1633, and is frequent in collections. The silvery 
whiteness of the foliage of this tree renders it a most 
conspicuous object in plantations; and hence, in any 
view where it is wished to attract the eye to a par- 
ticular point, it may be usefully employed. For ex- 
ample, suppose a villa surrounded by grounds perfectly flat, with a boundary 
strip of plantation, or shrubbery, in the middle distance, a monotonous 
third distance, in which there is no object of interest but the spire of a 
church, and that scarcely perceptible over the tops of the trees of the 
plantation: plant one or two trees of elzagnus in that part of the 
plantation over which the eye sees the spire, and they will, by the light 
colour of their foliage, attract the eye in that direction. This tree, which 
is called by the Portuguese the tree of Paradise, is also remarkable 
for the fragrance of its blossoms, which are produced in great abundance 
in May, and perfume the air for a considerable distance around, For 
this reason it is a most desirable tree for a lawn or shrubbery. There 
are good specimens in the Horticultural Society’s Garden; but the finest 
trees that we have seen, were, in 1815, in the grounds of Malmaison, near 
Paris, where they were nearly 30 ft. high, and with heads nearly as much in 
diameter. In the Levant, the fruit of the cultivated varieties, H. h. orientalis 
and dactyliférmis, is made into preserves, and also dried like pistachia nuts. 
The plant requires a sheltered situation, and, to attain any size, must be 
planted in a good soil. Price of plants in the London nurseries, 2s. 6d. 
each ; at Bollwyller 1 franc 50 cents; and at New York, 1 dollar. 
Varieties. Bieberstein, in his Fl. Taur. Cauc., i. p. 112, 113., as quoted in Ram. 
et Schult. Syst. and Bot. Reg., has comprehended under one species several 
forms, some of which are treated of as specifically distinct by Linnzus and 
other botanists. He gives E. horténsis as the name of the species, which 
he considers to exist under the four following forms : — 
+ E. h. 1 angustifolia Bieb., E. angustifolia L.— Leaves lanceolate, 
shining. Fruit insipid. This is the most common sort in British 
gardens. There is a tree of it in the Horticultural Society’s Garden, 
20 ft. high; and one at Kew, 8 ft. high. 
¥ E. h. 2 dactyliformis.—Leaves lanceolate, shining. Fruit date-shaped, 
eatable. 
¥ E. Ah. 3 orientalis, E. orientalis L., Pall. Fl. Ross., i. t. 5., Gmel. It. 
Til., t. 4.—Branches not spiny. Fruit date-shaped, eatable ; almost 
as large as that of a jujube, and used in the dessert in Persia, where 
it is called zinzeyd. The flowers are more fragrant than those of 
E. h. angustifolia. (Lind/. in Bot. Reg., t. 1156., and in Nat. Syst. 
Bot., p. 194.) There are plants of this variety in the Horti- 
eel Society’s Garden, and there is one in the Chelsea Botanic 
Garden. 
