58 LAURACE&. [CASSYTHA. 



thrives fairly well in Dehra Dun, and in the Government Garden at 

 Saharanpur. 



PERSE A GRATISSIMA, Gcertn. ;. (The Avocada or Alligator Pear). A 

 native of Trop. S. America. It is cultivated in Indian gardens. The 

 pear-shaped fruit, about 4-6 in. long, contains a single seed which is 

 embedded in a soft pulp. 



LAURUS NOBILIS, Linn. (Sweet Bay or Laurel). A small slow-growing 

 evergreen tree of the Mediterranean region, and well-known on 

 account of its aromatic leaves. 



XCVL ELJEAGNACE^E. 



Shrubs or trees, copiously covered with silvery or brown scales 

 Leaves alternate or opposite, entire, exstipulate, usually coriaceous, 

 Flowers small, regular, 2-sexual or dioecious, arranged in axillary 

 fascicles spikes or racemes, rarely from leafless axils ; bracts small s 

 deciduous or none. Perianth in 2-sexual or female flowers tubular, 

 narrowed above the ovary and persistent below, deciduous above ; 

 limb 2-4-lobed, rarely truncate ; perianth in male flowers reduced 

 to a 2-4-lobed limb. Stamens of 2-sexual flowers adnate to the 

 throat of the perianth, those of the male flowers adnate to the base 

 of the perianth, 4 alternate with or 8 both opposite to or alternate 

 with the perianth-lobes ; filaments free, usually short ; anther 

 oblong, 2-celled ; cells parallel, contiguous, staminodes in fern, 

 flowers none. Ovary free, 1 -celled ; style terminal, linear or dilated 

 above, stigma lateral ; ovule solitary, erect, basal, anatropous. 

 Fruit a nut, enclosed in the perianth-tube. Seed erect, testa hard, 

 albumen scanty or none, embryo straight ; cotyledons thick, fleshy ; 

 radicle inferior, very short. Species 17, in north temperate and 

 tropical regions. 



EL-ffiAGNUS, Linn.; Fl. Brit. Ind. v, 201. 



Flowers 2-sexual, solitary or 2-3-nate, or sometimes on shon 

 leafless or leafy branchless, bracts none. Perianth with an oblong 

 or globose persistent base, narrowed above the ovary into a cam- 

 panulate or funnel-shaped deciduous limb, yellow or white within 

 valvately 4-lobed and usually with a prominent ring inside above 



