SAURURACE^E. (LIZARD's-TAIL FAMILY.) 397 



4. BUCKLEYA, Torr. 



Flowers dioecious. Calyx club-shaped, the limb double, each 4-parted; the 

 exterior lobes linear, leafy, somewhat persistent, the interior triangular-ovate, 

 slightly imbricated in the bud, deciduous. Stamens of the sterile flower 4. 

 Disk of the fertile flower 4-lobed, fleshy. Style short : stigma 4-lobed. Drupe 

 oblong, compressed, furrowed. Embryo slender, in the axis of copious fleshy 

 albumen. An erect shrub, with straight and slender branches. Leaves scarcely 

 petioled, nearly opposite, distichous, lanceolate, acute, pubescent. Flowers ter- 

 minal, greenish, the sterile ones umbellate, the fertile solitary. 



1. B. distichophylla, Torr. Mountains of North Carolina, Buckley. 

 Shrub 6 -7 high. Leaves thin, l'-l|' long. Calyx-tube 4" -5" long, 

 scarcely longer than the exterior spreading lobes, much longer than the inner 

 ones. Drupe ' long. 



ORDER 114. LORANTHACE^E. (MISTLETOE FAMILY.) 



Parasitical shrubby plants, with evergreen almost veinless leaves, with- 

 out stipules, and perfect or dioecious flowers. Calyx of 2 - 8 sepals, dis- 

 tinct or united into a tube, valvate in the bud, sometimes wanting. Sta- 

 mens as many as the sepals and opposite them. Ovary 1-celled, commonly 

 with a single suspended ovule. Style simple or none. Fruit berr/-like. 

 Seeds anatropous. Embryo longer than the fleshy albumen. 



1. PHORADENDBON, Nutt. MISTLETOE. 



Flowers dioecious, in short jointed spikes. Calyx of the sterile flower globular, 

 2 -4-lobed. Anthers sessile at the base of the lobes, transversely 2-celled. 

 Calyx of the fertile flower adnate to the ovary. Stigma sessile. Berry globose, 

 pulpy, 1-seeded. Evergreen shrubs, growing on the branches of various trees, 

 with brittle jointed stems, thick persistent leaves, and small flowers in axillary 



1. P. flavescens, Nutt. (Viscum flavescens, Pursh.) Florida to Missis- 

 sippi, and northward. April and May. Plant yellowish, 2 - 3 long. 

 Branches opposite or whorled. Leaves obovate, fleshy. Spikes shorter than 

 the leaves. Berry white, glutinous. 



ORDER 115. SAURURACE^. (LIZARD'S-TAIL FAMILY.) 



Perennial marsh herbs, with jointed stems, alternate entire leaves, with 

 sheathing stipules, and perfect flowers in bracted spikes or racemes. 

 Calyx and corolla none. Stamens few or many, hypogynous : anthers 

 introrse, opening lengthwise. Ovaries 3-5, more or less united. Ovules 

 few, orthotropous, ascending. Embryo minute, cordate, contained in a 

 cavity at the apex of the albumen. Fruit follicular, 1 - few-seeded. 

 34 



