SANTALACE^E 187 



Hyeres in the woodland valleys and especially in the Gapeau Valley, where it 

 is very abundant and where one tree we photographed is quite 40 ft. in height. 

 Woods and hill-sides and borders of streams ; here and there well naturalized, 

 if not indigenous. March-April. 



ELjEAGNACE^E. 

 HIPPOPH/C L. 



H. rhamnoides L. Sea Buckthorn. A spiny olive-coloured shrub, 3-10 

 ft. high. Leaves linear, glabrous above, silvery with a scaly scurf beneath, 

 more or less rusty on the young shoots. Berries small, orange-yellow. Flowers 

 small, greenish, at the base of the young branches. 

 Beds of torrents and on screes, rare. March-June. 



LORANTHACE^. 



Parasitic shrub, with well-developed leaves and fruit as large as a pea. 



VISCUM. 



Parasitic small shrub, with leaves reduced to short triangular scales, and fruit 

 only 2x1 mm. ; ovoid ARCEUTHOBIUM. 



VISCUM L. 



V. album L. Mistletoe. This well-known parasite is rather rare on the 

 Riviera, and found chiefly on Pinus sylvestris, Abies pectinata, and Sorbus 

 Aria. The plant on P. sylvestris is called V. laxutn Boiss. and has narrower 

 leaves and a more oblong and rather yellowish berry. It is considered a distinct 

 species by some botanists. Mistletoe is a dioecious shrub with minute yellowish 

 flowers and yellowish-green oblong obtuse leathery leaves. Berries greenish- 

 white, transparent. In the Var it is found occasionally on Beech, Yew, Sorbus, 

 Maple, and Abies pectinata (Jahandiez). 



On trees chiefly in the hills and lower mountains. March-June. 



ARCEUTHOBIUM M. B. 



A. Oxycedri M.B. A very small under-shrub, 2-8 in. high, glabrous, 

 yellowish-green. Stems jointed, dichotomous. Flowers very small, yellowish. 

 Leaves reduced to small opposite triangular scales. Berry dry, small, ovoid, 

 greenish. Parasitic upon Juniperus Oxycedrus, communis, and 

 phoenicea; rare. September- October. Aups, route de Bauduen, behind St. 

 Auban and Montfort, and at one or two other places in the Var. 



SANTALACE/E. 



Flowers hermaphrodite ; stamens 5 ; fruit dry THESIUM. 



Flowers dioecious ; stamens 3-4 ; fruit fleshy OSYRIS. 



THESIUM L. BASTARD TOAD-FLAX. 



T. divaricatum Jan. Root woody and rather thick. Stems numerous, 

 wiry, spreading. Leaves linear, acute, i-nerved. Flowers greenish-white, in a 

 pyramidal panicle ; bracts unequal, 2 or 3 below each flower. Perianth-lobes 

 white, toothed near the base. 



Dry, stony hills and woods on the littoral. June-September, in fact we have 

 sometimes seen this in flower throughout the winter, though generally they are 

 stunted and cropped specimens. 



OSYRIS L. 



O. alba L. An evergreen under-shrub, 18 in. to 3 ft. or more, glabrous, much 

 branched, slender and angular. Leaves persistent, linear or lanceolate, acute, 

 leathery. Flowers small ; the male yellow, in clusters on very short branches ; 

 the female greenish, solitary at the ends of longer leafy branches. Fruit as large 

 as a pea, orange-red. 



Hedges, woods, borders of streams, roads and in shady places, common 

 throughout the littoral. May-August. 



