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194 COMMON CANADIAN WILD PLANTS. 



honey-yellow in lateral umbel-like clusters, before the leaves. 

 Stamens very much as in Sassafras, but the anthers are 

 2-celled and 2-valved. Pistillate flowers with 15-18 rudi- 

 ments of stamens. Drupe red. Damp woods, in early 

 spring. 



ORDER LXXX. THYMELEA'CE^E. (MEZEREUM F.) 



Shrubs with tough leather-like bark and entire leaves. 

 Flowers perfect. Calyx tubular, resembling a corolla, pale 

 yellow. Stamens twice as many as the lobes of the calyx 

 (in our species 8). Style thread-like. Stigma capitate. 

 Ovary 1-celled, 1-ovuled, free from the calyx. Fruit a 

 berry-like drupe. Only one Species in Canada. 



D1RCA, L. LEATHERWOOD. MOOSE-WOOD. 



1. D. palUStriS, L. A branching shrub, 2-5feethigh, with 

 curious jointed branchlets and nearly oval leaves on short 

 petioles. Flowers in clusters of 3 or 4, preceding the leaves. 

 Filaments exserted, half of them longer than the others. 

 Damp woods. 



2. Daphne Meze'reum, L., has escaped from cultivation 

 in a few places. A low shrub with purple, rose-coloured or 

 whitish flowers, preceding the leaves in early spring. 



ORDER LXXXL ELEAGNA'CE^l. (OLEASTER F.) 



Shrubs with perfect or dioecious flowers, and leaves which 

 are scurfy on the under surface. The calyx-tube in the 

 fertile flowers becomes fleshy and encloses the ovary, forming 

 a berry-like fruit. Otherwise the plants of this Order are 

 not greatly different from those of the last. 



Syn-p Is f the Genera. 



1. Ela-ng'nus. Flowers perfect. ' W tamens4. Leaves alternate. 



2. Shepherd' lit. Flowers uioeci .s. Stamens 8. Leaves opposite. 



1. EL^AG'NUS, Tourn. 



E. argen'tea, Pursh. (SILVER-BERRY.) Shrub 6-12 feet 

 high, the young branches covered with rusty scales. Leaves 

 elliptical to lanceolate, silvery-scurfy. Flowers many, 



