ELAEAGNACEAE 



209 



SHEPHERDIA CANADENSIS (Linnaeus) Nuttall 



Buffaloberry 



The Buffaloberry, fig. 54, is an erect shrub commonly 3 to 

 5 feet high, with stems, branches and branchlets densely and 

 conspicuously covered with fringed, silvery or brown scales. 

 The simple leaves are opposite, ovate or elliptic, 1 14 to 3 inches 



FIG. 54 

 Sheperdia canadensis 



long and, at the most, 1^ inches wide. They are thick, obtuse 

 at the apex, rounded or sometimes narrowed at the base, and 

 entire on the margins. The surface is dull green above and 

 more or less densely covered with tufted pubescence ; beneath 

 it is densely and conspicuously covered with a mixture of silvery 

 and reddish-brown fringed scales. 



The dioecious flowers, which appear before the leaves, are 

 borne in short, lateral racemes. They are yellowish green and 

 nearly 14 inch wide. The fruit is red to yellowish, drupelike, 

 oval, less than Yi inch long, and contains 1 seed. 



Distribution. — The Buffaloberry, a shrub of woods and 

 stream banks, ranges from Newfoundland to Alaska and south 

 to New York and southwestern Wisconsin. In Illinois, it is 



