LAUKACEAE 819 



FAMILY 2. ELAEAGNACEAE Lindl. OLEASTER FAMILY. 



Shrubs or trees, with silvery scaly or stellate-pubescent foliage. Leaves op- 

 posite or alternate : blades entire. Flowers perfect, polygamous or dioecious, 

 usually clustered at the nodes of branches of the present or preceding year. 

 Calyx of 4 or rarely 2, sepals, surmounting the hypanthium. Corolla wanting. 

 Androecium of 4 or 8 stamens, inserted near the base of the calyx. Fila- 

 ments short. Anthers 2-celled, opening lengthwise. Gynoecium a single pistil. 

 Ovary 1-celled, sessile. Style simple. Stigma entire. Ovule 1, erect, anatro- 

 pous. Fruit drupe-like, the achene surrounded with the accrescent hypanthium. 

 Seed solitary, erect. Testa thin. Endosperm scant or wanting. 



1. ELAEAGNUS L. 



Silvery scaly shrubs or rarely trees. Leaves alternate. Flowers perfect or polyga- 

 mous. Often clustered in the leaf axils. Sepals 4, valvate. Stamens 4. Mature hypan- 

 thium mealy or fleshy, including the achene. 



1. Elaeagnus umbellatus Thunb. A shrub, 1-3 m. tall. Leaves numerous ; blades 

 oblong to elliptic, 2-4 cm. long ; mainly obtuse, green above, silvery beneath, short- 

 petioled : flowers few, in umbel-like clusters, short-pedicelled : hypanthium narrowly fun- 

 nelform, 4-6 mm. long during anthesis : sepals ovate, 2.5-3 mm. long, silvery scaly with- 

 out like the hypanthium : fruit oblong to oval, 6-8 mm. long. 



On banks and in thickets, about Augusta, Georgia, and other cities. Introduced from Japan. 



FAMILY 3. LAURACEAE Lindl. LAUREL FAMILY. 



Aromatic shrubs or trees. Leaves alternate, opposite or whorled, without 

 stipules : blades entire or lobed, generally glandular-punctate. Flowers per- 

 fect, polygamous or dioecious, regular or nearly so, variously disposed, often in 

 clusters. Perianth of 6 (rarely 4-10) sepals in 2 series, imbricated. Androe- 

 cium usually of a greater number of stamens than the sepals, in 2-4 series, in- 

 serted on the edge of a disk at the base of the calyx, those of the third series 

 often bearing sessile or stalked glands, those of the fourth series and those in 

 pistillate flowers changed to staminodia. Filaments distinct. Anthers 2-4- 

 celled, the sacs opening by uplifting valves. Gynoecium a single pistil. 

 Ovary 1-celled. Style simple. Stigma entire or 3-lobed. Ovule anatropous, 

 pendulous. Fruit a drupe seated on the accrescent hypanthium. Seed solitary. 

 Endosperm wanting. 



Leaves persistent : flowers mostly perfect : stamens 12, the 3 inner staminodia. 



Sepals persistent : hypanthium not accrescent. 1. PERSEA. 



Sepals deciduous : hypanthium accrescent. 2. NECTANDR 



Leaves deciduous : flowers mostly dioecious : stamens 9. 

 Anthers 4-celled. 



Flowers racemose : trees. 3. SASSAFRAS. 



Flowers in lateral clusters : low shrubs. 4. MALAPOENNA. 



Anthers 2-celled. 5. BENZOIN. 



1. PERSEA Gaertn. 



Evergreen pleasantly aromatic shrubs or trees, with a furrowed bark and naked buds. 

 Leaves alternate : blades entire, leathery. Flowers perfect, yellowish green, cymose, more 

 or less panicled, on axillary or terminal peduncles. Sepals 6, those of the outer series 

 shorter than the others. Stamens 12, in 4 series, those of the inner, or the third and inner 

 series reduced to staminodia : filaments inserted near the base of the calyx, flattened, some- 

 times shorter than the anthers, those of the third series with 2 glands near the base : anthers 

 erect, flattened, 4-celled, the sacs opening by lids hinged at the top, extrorse in the third 

 row, introrse in the outer. Styles gradually enlarged upward. Drupe subglobose. The 

 plants flower in the spring and mature their fruit in the fall. 



Flowers in naked panicled cymes : fruit 8-18 cm. long. 1. P. Persea. 

 Flowers in axillary peduncled cymes : fruit less than 2 cm. long. 



Peduncles, pedicels and petioles glabrous or appressed- pubescent : fruit over 1 cm. thick. 

 Leaf-blades glabrous or nearly so. except sometimes the nerves beneath. 



Leaf-blades finely reticulated beneath, mainly over thrice as long as wide. 2. P. Sorbonia. 



Leaf-blades not reticulated beneath, mainly about twice as long as wide. 3. P. littoralis. 



Leaf-blades lustrous-pubescent beneath. 4. P. humitis. 



Peduncles, pedicels and petioles tomentose : fruit less than 1 cm. thick. 5. P. pubescens. 



