CHAPTER XL 



SHEPHERDIA. 



FAMILY 



[Named in honor of John Shepherd, formerly curator of the Liverpool Botanic 

 Garden.] 



GENERAL CHARACTERS. 



Deciduous shrubs, or small trees, with silvery leaved ; 

 flowers dioecious, the sterile 

 ones, (fig. 99,) having a four- 

 parted calyx, and eight sta- 

 mens ; the fertile flowers, (fig. 

 100,) have an urn-shaped ca- 

 lyx, enclosing the ovary which 

 becomes a berry-like fruit. 

 Leaves opposite, entire, de- 

 ciduous; the flowers very 

 small, yellow, borne in the ._ 

 axils of the small branches. 



A very small family of 

 plants, and there is but one 

 species of this genus that is 

 worthy of being cultivated 

 for its fruit, 



Shepherdia argentea, Buffalo Berry ; Rabbit Berry ; 

 Grosse de Buffle, of the French ; Hippophce argentea, of 

 Pursh. Leaves oblong, silvery-white on both sides ; 

 251 



Fig. 99. 



Fig. 100. 



