I 



LOKANTIIACE.E. (.MISTLi:T< »IC FAMILY.) 44'J 



cellate. (From ^Kaia, the olice, and Hyvos, sdrrt'd, the Greek name of the 

 Chaste-tree, Vitex A;/nu.s-4-astus.) 



1. E. argentea, I'ursh. (Silvki{-Beruy.) a stohmiferoua unarmed 

 shrub (6-12^ lii^'Ui the youuger branches covered with ferruginous scales; 

 leaves elliptic to lanceolate, undulate, silvery-scurfy and more or less ferrugi- 

 nous; riowers numerous, deflexed, silvery without, pale yellow within, fra- 

 grant; frnit scurfy, round-ovoid, dry and mealy, edible, 4-5" long. — N. W. 

 Minn, to Utah and Montana. 



2. SHEPHERDIA, Nutt. 



Flowers ditecious; the sterile with a 4-i)arted calyx (valvate in the bud) ami 

 8 stanu'iis, alternating with ;is many processes of the thick disk ; the fertile 

 with an urn-shaped 4-cleft calyx, enclosing the ovary (the orifice closed by the 

 teeth of the disk), and becoming l>erry-like in fruit. Style slender ; stigma 

 1 -sided. — Leaves opposite, entire, deciduous; the small flowers nearly sessile 

 in their axils on the branches, clustered, or the fertile solitary. (Named for 

 Joh?i Shepherd, formerly curator of the Liverpool Botanic Garden.) 



1. S. Canadensis, Nutt. Leaves elliptical or ovate, nearly naked and 

 green above, silvery -downy and scurfy with rusty scales beneath ; fruit yel- 

 lowish-red, insipid. — Rocky or gravelly banks, Vt. and N. Y. to Mich., Minn., 

 and north and westward. May. — Shrub 3-6^ high, the branchlets, young 

 leaves, yellowisli flowers, etc., covereil with rusty scales. 



2. S. argentea, Nutt. (Blffalo-Beuuv.) Somewhat thorny, .'3 - 18^ 

 high; leaves cuneate-oblong, silvery on both sides; fruit ovoid, scarlet, acid 

 and edible. — N. Minn, to Col., and westward. 



Order 96. LORANTHACE^. (Mistletoe Family.) 



Shrubby plnrHs with coriaceous greenish foliaffc, parasitic on trees, repre- 

 sented in the northern teini)erate zone chiefly by the Mistletoe and its 

 near allies; distinguished from the next family more by the parasitic 

 growth and habit, and by the more reduced llowers, than by essential 

 characters. 



1. Phoradendron. Anthers 2-celled. Ben y globose, pulpy. Leaves foliaceous. 



2. Arceuthobium. Anthers a single orbicular cell. Berry compressed, fleshy. Leaves 



scale-like, connate. 



1. PHORADENDRON, Nutt. F.vlsk Mistletoe. 



Flowers dio?cious, in short catkin like jointed spikes, usually several to each 

 short fleshy bract or scale, and sunk in the joint. Calyx globular, 3- (rarely 

 2-4-) lobed; in the .staminate flowers a sessile anther is borne on the base of 

 each lobe, transversely 2-celled, each cell opening by a pore or slit; in the 

 fertile flowers the calyx-tube adheres to the ovary; stigma sessile, obtuse. 

 Berry 1-seeded, pulpy. Embryo small, half imbedded in the summit of muci- 

 laginous albumen. — Yellowish-green woody parasites on the branches of trees, 

 with jointed much-branched items, thick and firm persistent leaves (or only 

 scales in their place), and axillary small spikes of flowers. (Name composed 

 of 'pup, a thief, and SiySpoy, tree ; from tlie parasitic habit.) 



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