882 LORANTHACE^E. (MISTLETOE FAMILY.) 



1. C. ifliiibiilSfsta, Nutt. Peduncles several and coryi ibose-clustered a' 

 the summit of the stem, several-Jlowered ; calyx-tube conspicuously continued be- 

 yond the ovary, forming a neck to the globular-um-shaped fruit; the lobes 06- 

 long ; style slender; fruit dry. Dry ground; common. May, June. Sterna 

 8' -10' high, very leafy. Root forming parasitic attachments to the roots of 

 trees (as shown by Mr. Staitffer). Leaves obovate-oblong, about 1' long. 



2. C. llVlda* Richards. Peduncles axillary, 3 - b-flowered, shorter than the 

 oval flaccid leaves ; calyx-tube not continued beyond the ovary, the lobes ovate ; 

 style short ; fruit pulpy when ripe, red. Shore of Lake Superior, and north- 

 ward. Leaves larger than in the last. ? * j ' i ' 



2. PYRUJLARIA, Michx. OIL-NUT. BUFFALO-NUT. 



Flowers dioecious. Calyx 5-cleft, the lobes recurved. Sterile flowers with 5 

 stamens on very short filaments, alternate with 5 rounded glands. Fertile flow- 

 ers with a pear-shaped ovary invested by the adherent calyx, naked at the flat 

 summit : disk with 5 glands : style shorty and thick : stigma capitate-flattened. 

 Fruit fleshy and drupe-like, pear-shaped, the globose endocarp thin. Embryo 

 small : albumen very oily. A low straggling shrub, with alternate short-peti- 

 oled and veiny deciduous leaves ; the small greenish flowers sessile in very short 

 and simple terminal spikes. (Name a diminutive of Pyrus, from the fruit, 

 which looks like a small pear.) 



1. P. Oleifera. (P. pubera, Michx. Hamiltonia oleifera, Muhl.) Rich 

 wooded banks, mountains of Penn. and southward throughout and near the 

 Alleghanies. May. Leaves obovate-oblong, pointed at both ends, a little 

 downy, or at length smooth, somewhat succulent, oily, acrid to the ta^te. Spikes 

 ripening but one fruit, which is about 1 ' long. 



ORDER 97. LORANTHACE^E. (MISTLETOE FAMILY.) 



Shrubby plants with coriaceous greenish foliage, parasitic on trees, repre- 

 sented in the northern temperate zone chiefly by the Mistletoe and its near 

 allies; which are distinguished from the p eceding family more by their 

 parasitic growth and habit, and by their more reduced flowers, than by 

 essential characters : represented by 



1. PIIORA!>ENI>RON, Nutt. FALSE MISTLETOE. 



Flowers dioecious, in short and catkin-like jointed spikes, usually several 

 under each short and fleshy bract or scale, and sunk in the joint. Calyx globu- 

 lar, 3- (rarely 2-4-) lobed : in the staminate flowers a sessile anther is borne on 

 the base of each lobe, and is transversely 2-celled, each cell opening by a pore 

 or slit : in the fertile flowers the calyx-tube adheres to the ovaiy : stigina ses- 

 sile, obtuse. Berry 1-seecled, pulpy. Embryo small, half imbecded in the 

 summit of mucilaginous albumen. Yellowish-green woody parasites on the 

 branches of trees, with jointed much branched stems, thick and firm persistent 

 leaves (or only scales in their place), and axillary small spikes of flowers 



