VOL. II.] 



OLEASTER FAMILY. 



467 



i. Elaeagnus argentea Pursh. 

 Silver-berry. (Fig. 2536.) 



Elaeagnus argentea Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 

 114. 1814. 



Stoloniferous, much branched, some- 

 times 12 high, the young twigs covered 

 with brown scurf, becoming silvery. 

 Leaves oblong, ovate or oval-lanceolate, 

 densely silvery-scurfy on both sides, acute 

 or obtuse, short-petioled, I'^'long; flow- 

 ers usually numerous, i to 3 in the axils, 

 fragrant, silvery, 6 // -8 // long; perianth 

 silvery without, yellowish within, its 

 lobes ovate, about i" long; fruit oval, sil- 

 very, 4 // -6 // long, the stone 8-striate. 



James Bay to the Northwest Territory, 

 south to Quebec, Minnesota, South Dakota 

 and Utah. May-July. Fruit edible, ripe 

 July-Aug. 



2. LEPARGYRAEA Raf. Am. Month. Mag. 2: 176. 1817. 

 [SHEPHERDIA Nutt. Gen. 2: 240. 1818.] 



Shrubs, brown- or silvery-scurfy or stellate-pubescent, with opposite petioled leaves. 

 Flowers small, dioecious, or sometimes polygamous, subspicate or fascicled at the nodes of 

 the preceding season, or axillary, the pistillate few or sometimes solitary. Pistillate flowers 

 with an urn-shaped or ovoid 4-lobed perianth, bearing an 8-lobed disk at its mouth which 

 nearly closes it; style somewhat exserted. Staminate flowers with a 4-parted perianth and 

 8 stamens alternating with as many lobes of the disk; filaments short. Fruit drupe-like, the 

 fleshy perianth-base enclosing a nut, or achene. [Greek, silvery-scaly.] 



Three known species, the following and L. rolundifolia of Utah. 



Leaves ovate or oval, green above, silvery beneath; shrub thornless. i. L. Canadensis. 



Leaves oblong, silvery on both sides; shrub mostly thorny. 2. L. argentea. 



i. Lepargyraea Canadensis (L,.) Greene. Canadian Buffalo-berry. (Fig.2537.) 



Elaeagnus Canadensis'L,. Sp. PI. 1024. 1753. 

 Shepherdia Canadensis Nutt. Gen. 2: 240. 



1818. 

 Lepargyraea Canadensis Greene, Pittonia, 



2: 122. 1890. 



A thornless shrub, 4-8 high, the 

 young shoots brown-scurfy. Leaves ovate 

 or oval, obtuse at the apex, rounded, or 

 some of them narrowed at the base, i / -i^ / 

 long, green and sparingly stellate-scurfy 

 above, densely silvery stellate-scurfy be- 

 neath, some of the scurf usually brown ; 

 petioles 2 // ~3 // long; flowers in short 

 spikes at the nodes of the twigs, yellow- 

 ish; buds globose, less than \" in diame- 

 ter, forming in summer, expanding with 

 or before the leaves early in the following 

 spring; perianth about 2 //r broad when 

 expanded; fruit oval, red or yellowish, 

 2 //_y/ long, the flesh insipid, the nut 

 smooth. 



On banks, especially along streams, New- 

 foundland to Saskatchewan and British Co- 

 lumbia, south to Vermont, New York, Mich- 

 igan and Utah. April-June. Fruit ripe 

 July-Aug. 



