710 ELJJAGNACEiK. (OLKASTEll FAMILY.) 



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

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

 tate. Xutlet enclosed in the persistent i^erigonium — Annual herbs or 

 shrubs, with inconspicuous flowers. 



* Annuals, 



1. I^. Pa§$criiia, L. © .3 to .5, glabrescent; stem erect, simple 

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

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

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

 perigonium ,003 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. Li. pubescciis, Guss. A^ to .^, quiescent ; stem stiff, with 

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

 .003 to .OOG long, sessile, acute at both ends. Flowers axillary, 1-3 in 

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

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

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

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

 Palmyra, A^intab, and eastward. 



* * Perennials, irith sliruUnj hase. 



3. li. Auelieri, Meissn. 5 lor more, glabrous; stems numerous, 

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

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

 margins. Flowers 1-3 in axillary clusters, mono'doiis, nearly sessile, 

 greenish, .005 long; perigonium appressed-pubescent, lol)es in staminate 

 powers, one-tliird to one-half as long as slender tube, in pistillate as long as 

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

 minute h'acts — June to September — Lower, middle and subalpine 

 zones of Lebanon to Amanus ; Aintab, and northward. 



Order XC. EI^iEAOXACE^l!:, Lindley. (Oleasteh Family.) 



Shrubs or trees, with silvery -scurfy leaves^ and fjerfect 

 or (hy ahortion) dioecious Jloioers, an inferior ^erigoniiini^ 

 %^-cleft^ irahricated in the hud^ a dish lining the tule^ as 

 many stamens as the lohes, inserted at the throat, a free ovary 

 enclosed i7i the tiile, ivith 1, erect ovule, develoinng into a 

 1-ceUed, \-seededfndt, closely invested hj the ind^y tule, 

 ajypearing lilxe a drujpe — Pericarp crustaceons. Seed ei'ect, 

 anatropous, witli erect embrj'o, surrounded Vy narrow 

 albumen, and an inferior radicle. 



ELEACrj\US, L. Silver-Berry. Zaizafdn. 



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

 nate Jlowers. Perigonium campanulate, 4-6-cleft. Stamens as many as 

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

 their length with the perigonium, autliers 2-cclled, fixed by their back. 

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

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

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



