SANTALACEiE. (SANDALWOOD FAMILY.) 42J 



1. S. Canadensis, Nutt. (Canadian Shkpherdia.) Leaves elliptical 

 or ovate, nearly naked and yrcen above, silvery-downy and scurfy with rusty 

 scales underneath ; fruit yellowish-red, insijjid. — Rocky or gravelly banks, Ver- 

 mont to Wisconsin and northward. May. — Shrub, 3° -6° high ; the branch- 

 lets, young leaves, yellowish flowers, &c., covered with the rusty scales. 



2. S. arg6ntea, Nutt., the Buffalo-Berky of Upper Missouri, has nar- 

 rower leaves, tapering at bjise, silvery on both sides, and edible, acid, scarlet 

 fruit : probably in Minnesota : sometimes cultivated. 



El^Agnus ARGENTINA, Pursh, the Silver-Berry, Avith oval silvery leaves, 

 and silvery and mealy edible fruit, ditl'ering from Shepherdia in its perfect flow- 

 ers with only 4 stamens, — abounds not far beyond our northwestern limits. 



Order 91. SANTALACE.E. (Sandalwood Family.) 



Herbs, shrubs, or trees, with entire leaves ; the 4-5-cleft calyx valvule in 

 the bud, its tube coherent with the l-celled ovary, which contains 2-4 ovtdes 

 suspended from the apex of a stalk-like free central placenta which rises from 

 the base of the cell, but the {indehiscent) fruil always l-seeded. — Seed des- 

 titute of any proper seed-coat. Embryo small, at the apex of copious al- 

 bumen : radicle directed upward : cotyledons cylindrical. Stamens equal 

 in number to the lobes of the calyx, and inserted opposite them into the 

 edge of the fleshy disk at their base. Style 1. A small order, the greater 

 part belonging to warm regions, here represented only by the two follow- 

 ing genera. 



1. COMANDRA, Nutt. Bastard Toad-flax. 



Flowers perfect. Calyx bell-shaped or soon urn-shaped, lined above the ovary 

 with an adherent disk which has a 5-lobed free border. Stamens inserted on the 

 edge of the disk between its lobes, opposite the lobes of the calyx, to the middle 

 of which the anthers are connected by a tuft of thread-like hairs. Fruit drupe- 

 like or nut-like, crowned by the persistent calyx-lobes, the cavity filled by the 

 globular seed. — Low and smooth perennials, with herbaceous steins from a 

 lather woody base or root, alternate and almost sessile leaves, and greenish-white 

 flowers in terminal or axillary small umbel-like clusters. (Name from KUfxrj^ 

 hair, and /ivdpes, for stamens, in allusion to the hairs on the calyx-lobes which 

 are attached to the anthers.) 



1. C. umbell^ta, Nutt. Leaves oblong, pale (l' long) ; peduncles several 

 and corymbose-dust end at the summit of the stem, several flowered ; calyx-tube con- 

 spicuously continued beyond the ovary, forming a necji to the globular-urn- 

 shaped fruit ; the lobes obiony ; style slender; fruit dry. — Dry ground : common. 

 May, June. — Stems 8' -10' high, very leafy. Root forming parasitic attach- 

 ments to the roots of trees (as shown by Mr. Staiifflr). 



2. C. livida, Richardson. Peduncles axillavy, 3 - b-floicered, shorter than 

 the oval leaves ; calyx-tiibe not continued beyond the ovary, the Mies ovate; style 

 short; fruit pulpy when ripe, red. — Sandy shores of Lake Superior and north- 

 ward. — Leaves larger than in the last. 



L & M— 38 



