ELiR 



ELD 



They require the protection of a moderate stove 

 during the autumn and winter, but when they 

 have had some growth, they may be set out in 

 the summer in the open air in hot weather. 



They have a fine effect in their exuberant foli- 

 age among other stove plants, all the species af- 

 fording much variety. 



EL^EAGNUS, a genus containing plants of 

 the shrubby deciduous kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Tetruvdria 

 Monngynia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Elceagni. 



The characters are: that the calyx is a 

 one-leafed, four-cleft perianthium, superior, 

 straight, bell-form, outwardly scabrous, inward- 

 ly coloured, deciduous : there is no corolla : the 

 stamina consist of four filaments, very short, 

 inserted into the calyx below the divisions: an- 

 thers oblong, incumbent: the pistillum is a 

 roundish, inferior germ : style simple, a little 

 shorter than the calyx : stigma simple : the peri- 

 carpium an ovate, obtuse drupe, smooth, with 

 a dotted tip: the seed an oblong obtuse nut. 



The species cultivated are : 1 . E. august if olia, 

 Narrow-leaved Oleaster, or Wild Olive ; 2. E. 

 orientaliSfOrienis.] Oleaster, or Wild Olive; 3. E. 

 lalifolia, Broad-leaved Oleaster, or Wild Olive. 



The first is a tree branching from the bottom,, 

 growing sometimes to the height of three fa- 

 thoms, with a trunk the thickness of a man's 

 arm or thigh, elegant in its appearance, especially 

 from the silvery brightness of the leaves : the 

 bark is. smooth,, brown : wood pale, prettily 

 vrined with gray and brown, but not hard : the 

 branches and brar>chlets slender, frequent, alter- 

 nate, smooth, unarmed, or having thorns, espe- 

 cially in young trees: the leaves are petioled, in 

 the more northern parts lanceolate, in the more 

 southern broader, rather obtuse, and larger; silvery 

 white underneath, on their upper surface hoary- 

 greenish, and shining very much : the flowers 

 come out at the middle leaves of the smaller 

 branches, usually solitary or two together, some- 

 times, but very seldom, three from each axil, in 

 which case one or two are on shorter peduncles 

 and barren, succeeded by a solitary drupe, ob- 

 long, hoary-white when young, thicker and yel- 

 lowish when ripe, inclosing within a sweet pulp 

 a woody, gray, furrowed nut.. It is a native of 

 the South of Europe, &c. 



Miller particularly distinguishes it from the 

 thorny and unarmed narrow-leaved Oleaster : 

 the latter he considers ,as that which is most 

 commonly preserved in our gardens : the leaves 

 in this are not more than two inches long, and 

 about three quarters of an inch broad in the mid- 

 dle; are white, and have a soft cottony down on 

 their surface; and at the footstalk of every leaf 

 comes out a pretty long sharp thorn : the leaves 



being alternate, the spines come out on each side 

 of the branches : the Sowers are small, and have 

 a strong scent when fully open. 



The second species, in the stature and manner 

 of growth, is a tree that resembles a middle- 

 sized willow, as also in the hoar'mess of its 

 leaves and the division of its branches : the bark is 

 gray, and cloven in the trunk : the small 

 branches alternate, all white-tomentose : the 

 leaves are alternaie, oblong-ovate, and oval, 

 quite entire, petioled, with a snowy hoariness 

 underneath, and dotted-hoary on the upper 

 surface, not shining, but soft. The wdd sorts 

 have sharp straight thorns scattered variously 

 over the branches, which on the smaller twigs 

 are hoary all over, and bear leaves : but the 

 cultivated trees have no thorns : the flowers 

 are alternate, peduncled, solitary, and extreme- 

 ly fragrant : the fruit ovate, very obscurely 

 octangular, tomentose ; the nut furrowed, hav- 

 ing a cylindric kernel : it has much the ap- 

 pearance of the first, but is a native of Persia. 



The third has a tuberous root, and rises with 

 a woody stem to the height of eight or nine feet, 

 dividing into many branches : the leaves are 

 silvery, with several irregular dark-coloured 

 spots; are alternate, and continue all the year: 

 the flowers are lateral, white, on one-flowered 

 peduncles, several together : the fruit small ovate, 

 containing one seed. Native of the East Indies.. 



Miller remarks, that it is rare at present in 

 our gardens. 



Culture. — These plants may be increased 

 either by seeds, layers, or cuttings ; but the lat- 

 ter is the readiest and most common method. 



The seed, when it can be procured, may 

 be sown in pots of light earth in the spring, 

 plunging them in the hot-bed ; and, when the 

 plants are of some growth, removing them 

 into other pots or situations, where they may 

 remain a year or two. 



The layers and cuttings of the young shoots 

 should be laid down or planted out in the 

 autumn or early spring, those made from the 

 tender sorts being put in pots, and placed in the 

 hot-bed of the stove. When they are become 

 well rooted, they may be removed, the hardy 

 sorts into the nursery to have a few years 

 growth, and those of the tender kinds into 

 separale pots, to have the protection of the 

 green-house and stove. 



These are all ornamental plants, the first 

 sort being well adapted to afford varietv in 

 the clumps and borders of shrubberies, the 

 second to the green-house, and the last to the 

 stove. As the plants in the first sorts do not 

 continue long, new ones should be raised every 

 two or three years. 



ELDER. See Sambucus. 



