710 BLi3SAGKACE^. (OLEAftTEIl FAMILY.) 



destitute of scales. Stamens 8, inserted iu two rows at the apex of the 

 tube, anthers subsessile, included. Style short, terminal, stigma capi- 

 tate. JSTutlet enclosed in the persistent perigonium — Annual herbs or 

 shrubs, with inconspicuous flowers. 



* Annuals. 



1. L<, Pa§seriiia, L. © .3 to .5, glabrescent; stem erect, simple 

 or stifi-branched, leafy. Leaves linear-lanceolate, .014 to .005 long, 

 sessile, tapering at both ends. Flowers perfect, green, axillary, sessile, 

 single or 2-5 in a cluster, forming a long, leafy, interritpted spike ; 

 perigonium .002 long, appressed-pubescent, lobes ovate, obtuse, erect, 

 half as long as tube; fruit shorter than bract, ovate, .003 long — Sum- 

 mer — Fields ; Aleppo, and northward, and eastward. 



2. L«. piibesceiis, Guss. .15 to.3, ^j-wZ'^sc^'^ii; stem stiff, with 

 long, slender, upright branches. Leaves dense, lenticular to linear, 

 .003 to .006 long, sessile, acute at both ends. Flowers axillar}^, 1-3 in 

 a cluster, perfect, sessile, tchite, .0015 long, forming a long, dense, 

 leafy spike ; perigonium with ovate, oljtuse, erect lobes half as long as 

 tube; fruit ovate, .002 long, tapering at apex, a little shorter than 

 perigonium, as long as Iract — Spring— Shittim plain to Damascus, 

 Palmyra, Aintab, and eastward. 



* * Perennials, irith sJtrulhi/ last. 



3. li. Auclieri, Meissn. ^ 1 or more, glabrous ; stems numerous, 

 wand-like, from a woody base, erect, simple or sparingly branched, 

 leafy. Leaves linear-JiUform, .015 to .005 long, acute, with revolute 

 margins. Flowers 1-3 in axillary clusters, monacious, nearly sessile, 

 greenish, .005 long; perigonium appressed-pubescent, lobes in staminate 

 ftowers, one-tliird to one-half as long as slender tube, in 2)istillate as long as 

 tube; fruit conical, scarcely shorter than perigonium, much longer than 

 minute l>racts — June to September — Lower, middle and subalpine 

 zones of Lebanon to Amanus; Aintab, and northward, 



Order XC. ELiftiAO^VACE^, Lindley. (Oleaster Family.) 



/Shruhs or trees, with silvery-scurfy leaves^ and ]^erftct 

 or (hy ahortion) dioecious foioers, an inferior jperigonixirn^ 

 %^-cleft, imhricated in the hud, a disk lining the tiile, aB 

 many stamens as the lobes, inserted at the tltr oat, a free ovai'y 

 enclosed in the tube, with \, erect ovule, develoinng into a 

 1-celled, 1-seeded fruit, closely invested by the jyuljpy tid)e, 

 ai^pearing like (5f(^Zy'?^^j>^ — Pericarp criistaceoiis. Seed erect, 

 anatropous, with erect embryo, surrounded by narrow 

 albumen, and an inferior radicle. 



EEEAOXUS, L. Silver-Berry. Zaiznfun. 



Flowers perfect, or the staminate with an abortive ovary. Stami- 

 nate flowers. Perigonium campanulate, 4-G-cleft. Stamens as many as 

 teeth, alternate with them, included, filaments adherent for most of 

 their length with the perigonium, anthers 2-celled, fixed by their back. 

 Perfect floicers. Tube cylindrical, limb 4-G-cleft, deciduous. Stamens 

 as above. Glandular disk surrounding the style to the throat of the 

 tube. Ovary oblong, 1-ovuled. Style elongated, stigma club-shaped. 



