ORDER 111. ELEAGNACEyE. 623 



Calyx somewhat urceolate, tube adherent, limb 4 to 5-parted ; stamens 

 4 to 5, opposite the sepals, and connected to them by a tuft of hairs ; 

 filaments inserted into the top of the perigynous, 5-lobed disk, between 

 its lobes; fruit drupaceous, 1-seeded, crowned with the limb of the 

 calyx. Very smooth, suffruticous plants. Fed. axillary and terminal. 

 Fls. small, umbellate,, 



1. EircoiiANDRA. Flowers perfect. Leaves all alternate No. 1 



2. DAEBYA. Flowers dioecious. Leaves mostly opposite Is'o. 2 



1 C. umbellata Nutt Erect ; Ivs. oval-lanceolate ; fis. subcorymbed, terminal ; 

 connecting hairs yellow. n Plant about a foot high, in rocky woods, U. S. and 



* Brit. Am. Stem slender, striate, generally branching at top. Leaves entire, al- 

 ternate, acutish, 1 !' long, and as wide, tapering to a very short petiole,. 

 Flowers small, white, in little umbels of about 3. Each umbel is furnished with 

 a deciduous involucre of about 4 small leaflets, the whole constituting a kind of 

 corymb. June. 



2 C. Darbya A. DC. Lvs. elliptical; cymes lateral, about 5-flowered; calyx 

 lobes spreading-reflexed, connecting hairs white. Ga. near Macon (Darby), N. 

 Car. near Lincolnton (Curtis). A small shrub with terete, blackish branches, the 

 branchlets herbaceous, short, leafy. Lvs. thin and pale, 12 to 18" by 5 to 8", 

 short-petioled, apex obtuse or submucronate. Cymes shorter than the leaves, 

 on slender peduncles. Pedicels 1 or 2" long. Bracts deciduous. Calyx lobea 

 ovate, acute. Pruit unknown. (Darbya umbellulata Gray.) 



ORDER CX. THYMELACE^E. DAPHNADS. 



Shrubs with a very tough, acrid bark, entire leaves and perfect flowers, with Iko 

 calx tubular, colored, the limb 4 (4 or 5)-parted, regular, the tube bearing the stam- 

 ens as many or usually twice as many as its lobes, and free from the ovary, which 

 is 1-celled, 1-ovuled, the suspended seed with little or no albumen. 



Genera 40, species 375, very abundant in Australia and S. Africa, sparingly disseminated in 

 Europe and Asia. The only N. American genus is the following. 



Properties. The bark is acrid and caustic, raising blisters upon the skin. It is composed of 

 interlaced fibers, which are extremely touch, but easily separable. The lace-bark tree (Lagetta) 

 wf Jamaica is particularly remarkable for this property. 



DIR'CA, L. LEATHER-WOOD. (Gr. dtpfta, a fountain ; the shrub 

 grows near mountain streams or rivulets.) Calyx cplored, tubular, 

 with a truncate or obscurely 4-toothed limb ; stamens 8, unequal, 

 longer than and inserted into the tube ; style 1 ; berry 1-seeded. Lvs. 

 alternate, simple. Fls. expanding before the oblong-obovate Ivs., 3 

 from each bud. 



D. palustris L. A shrub 5f in height when full grown, U. S. and Can. The fis. 

 appear in April and May, much earlier than the leaves. They are small, yellow, 

 funnel-shaped, about 3 together, with a bud-like involucre. Lvs. from the samo 

 buds, entire, on short petioles, pale underneath. Stam. much longer than the 

 calyx, alternately a long and a short one. Berry oval, small, red. Every part 

 of this shrub is very tough. The twigs furnish "rods for the fool's back, " the 

 bark is used for ropes, baskets, &c. 



DAPHNE is a genus differing from Dirca by its spreading calyx limb and 

 included stamens. 



D. Mezereum, with deciduous Ivs. andD. Laureolawith evergreen Ivs. aro 

 occasionally cultivated. 



ORDER CXI. EL^EAGNACE^E. OLEASTERS. 



Shrubs or trees usually with the leaves covered with a silvery scurf, entire; 

 flowers mostly dioecious, the calyx free, entire, persistent, becoming in fruit pulpy 



