696 ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



natives of Europe, Asia, and North America ; propagated by seeds, or cut- 

 tings of the roots, in dry soil. The genera are three, which are thus 

 contradistinguished : 



^'L^EA'CNUS Tourn. Flowers polygamous. Calyx 4-lobed. Stamens 4. 



//IPPO'PHAE L. Flowers dioecious. Calyx of 2 petals. Stamens 4. 



SHEPHE'RD/^ Nutt. Flowers dioecious. Calyx 4-cleft. Stamens 8. 



GENUS I. 



.ELjEA'GNUS Tourn. THE EL;EA'GNUS, OLEASTER, or WILD Ours 

 TREE. Lin. Syst. Tetrandria Monogynia. 



Identification. Tourn. Cor., 51. ; N. Du Ham., 2. p. 87. 



Synonymes. Chalef, Fr. ; Wilde Oelbaum, Ger. ; Eleagno, Hal. 



Derivation. " The elaiagnos of Theophrastus was a plant with hoary leaves, growing in marshy 

 places in Arcadia, and was probably a species of Salix, although certainly not S. baby!6nica, as 

 Sprengel has stated it to be. It was named from its resemblance to the elaia, or olive, from which 

 it differed in not bearing fruit. Dioscorides writes elteagros, which means the wild olive; and 

 some botanists have adopted this reading, which is most likely the true one. The plants to which 

 the name laeagnus is now applied are also something like the olive. The French call the E\seag- 

 nus, chalef ; a slight alteration according to Golius, of khalcf, the Arabic name of the willow ; 

 but more probably of kalaf, the Persian name of the leeagnus itself." (Lindley in Bot. Reg., 

 t. 1156.) Oleaster is a Latin word, which is interpreted a wild olive tree; and perhaps it is 

 derived from olea, an olive tree, and tnstar, likeness. 



Gen. Char., $c. Flowers some bisexual, some male only ; both kinds on 

 one plant. Bisexual floiuer. Calyx resembling, internally, a corolla, tu- 

 bular below, bell-shaped above, with a slightly spreading lobed deciduous 

 limb. Lobes mostly 4 ; the tubular part includes the ovary and part of the 

 style, and bears at its mouth a conical crown, through which the style 

 passes. Style long. Stigma clavate, or coiled. Stamens arising from the 

 bottom of the bell-shaped part, shorter than it, alternate with its lobes ; 

 the filaments adnate to it, except at their tip. Ovary oblong. Fruit an 

 achenium Male flower. Calyx resembling, internally, a corolla, bell- 

 shaped, with a limb of 4 6 8 lobes. Stamens of the number of the 

 lobes, otherwise as in the bisexual flower. (G. Don.) 



Leaves simple, alternate, exstipu late, deciduous; bearing, as does the bark 

 of growing shoots, scales or stars of hairs. Flowers axillary, pediceled. Fruity 

 in some, edible. Shrubs or low trees, deciduous ; natives of Europe, Asia, 

 and North America ; which grow freely in any soil tolerably dry, and are 

 readily propagated by seeds, layers, or cuttings. 



* 1. E. HORTE'NSIS Bieb. The Garden Elasagnus, Oleaster, or Wild 

 Olive Tree. 



Identification. Bieb. Fl. Taur. Cauc.. p. 113. 



Synonymes. E. angustifblia L., Willd. Sp. PI. 1 . p. 688. ; E. songarica Fisch. ; E. inermis Mitt. Diet. 



No. 2. ; E. argenteus Mcench Meth. p. 638. ; E. orieutalis Delisle ; ? E. argentea Wats. Dend. 



Brit. t. 161.; Jerusalem Willow; Olivier de Boheme, Chalef a Feuilles etroites, Fr. ; schmal- 



blattriger Oleaster, Ger. ; Albero di Paradise, Ital. 

 Engravings. N. Du Ham., 1. 1. 89. ; Bot. Reg., 1. 1156. ; the plate in Arb. Brit., 1st edit., vol. vii. ; 



and our Jigs. 1362. and 1303. 



Spec. Char., $c. Leaves lanceolate, hoary all over, as are the shoots of the 

 current year, with stars of hairs of a hoary colour. Branches brown and 

 smooth, more or less spiny. Leaves 2 in. to 3 in. long ; upon the upper surface 

 whitish green, and upon the under one very hoary. Flowers 2 or 3 together, 

 axillary, upon short peduncles, fragrant : bisexual flowers 4-cleft, interior of 

 a pale yellow ; male ones 5- or more cleft, interior of a golden yellow. 

 Both are furnished on the exterior with stars of hairs, like the under 

 surface of the leaves. A large deciduous shrub or low tree. South of 

 Europe, in Bohemia, France, Spain, the Levant, Tartary, and various parts 

 of Asiatic Russia 3 Height 15ft. to 20 ft. Introduced in 1633. Flowers 

 pale yellow, fragrant ; May. Fruit red brown colour, something like a 

 date ; ripe in October. 



