590 ELAEAGNACEAE (OLEASTER FAMILY) 



1. D. palustris L. (Wicopy.) Shrub, 1-2 m. hii,^h ; the wood white, s">ft, 

 and very brittle ; but the fibrous barlv remarkably tough (used by the Indians 

 for thongs, whence the popular names). — Damp rich woods, N. B. to Ont., and 

 southw. Apr. 



2. DAPHNE li. Mezereum 



Calyx salver-shaped or somewhat funnel-shaped. Anthers nearly sessile on 

 the calyx-tube. Stigma capitate. Drupe red. — Hardy low shrub. (Mytho- 

 logical name of the nymph transformed by Apollo into a Laurel.) 



1. D. ]MEzi:KELM L. Shrub, S-{) dm. high, with purple-rose-colored (rarely 

 white) flowers, in lateral clusters on shoots of the preceding year, before the 

 lanceolate smooth leaves. — Escaped from cultivation, and locally established, 

 w. Que. and Ont. to Mass. and N. Y. Early spring. (Introd. from Eu.) 



ELAEAGNACEAE (Oleaster Family) 



Shrubs or srn.all trees^ with silvery-scurfy leaves and perfect, or dioecious 

 flowers ; further distinguished from the Mezereum Family by the erect or 

 ascending albuminous seed, and the calyx-tube which becomes pulpy and berry- 

 like in fruit, strictly inclosing the achene. 



1. Elaeagnus. Flowers perfect. Stamens 4. Leaves alternate. 



2. Shepherdia. Flowers dioecious. Stamens 8. Leaves opposite. 



1. ELAEAGNUS [Tourn.] L. • 



Calyx cylindric-campanulate above the persistent cylindrical or globose base, 

 the limb valvately 4-cleft, deciduous. Stamens 4, in the throat. Style linear, 

 stigmatic on one side. Fruit drupe-like, with an ellipsoid 8-striate stone, — 

 Leaves alternate, entire and j)etioled, and flowers axillary and pedicellate. 

 (From eXat'a, the olive, and A-yvos^ the Greek name of the Chaste-tree, Vitex 

 Agnus-castus.) 



1. E. argentea Pursh. (Silverberry.) A stoloniferous unarmed shrub, 

 2-4 m. hlgli, the younger branches covered with ferruginous scales ; leaves elliptic 

 to lanceolate, undulate, silvery-scurfy and more or less ferruginous ; flowers 

 numerous, deflexed, silvery without, pale yellow within, fragrant ; fruit round- 

 ovoid, dry and mealy, edible, 8-10 mm. long. — Bonaventure K.. Que, (Post) ; 

 and from Isle of Orleans, Que., to Hudson Bay and B. C, s to Minn., S. Dak., 

 and Utah. 



2. SHEPHERDIA Nutt. 



Flowers dioecious ; the sterile with a 4-parted calyx (valvate in the bud) 

 and 8 stamens, alternating with as many processes of the thick disk ; the fertile 

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

 teeth of the disk) and becoming berry-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 

 John Shepherd, once curator of the Liverpool Botanic Garden,) Lepargyrea 

 Raf. 



1. S. canadensis (L.) Nutt. Shrub, 1-2 m. high ; Ipuvps flliptical or ovate, 

 nearly naked and green above, silvery-downy and scurfy with rusty scales 

 beneath; fruit yellowish-red, nauseous. {Lppnrqyrca Greene.) — Calcareous 

 rocks and banks, Nfd. to Alaska, s. to N. S., Me., Vt., n. and w. N. Y., Mich,, 

 Wise, and along the Rocky Mts. to N. Mex. May. 



2. S. argentea Nutt. (Buffalo Bkkry.) Somewhat thorny, 1-6 m. high ; 

 leaves cuneate-ohlomj, silvery on both sides ; fi-uit ovoid, scarlet, acid and ediWe 

 (Lepargyrea Greene.) — Man. and n. Minn, to Kan., and westw 



