192 . FAMILIES OF FLOWERING PLANTS 
portion 4-lobed and deciduous, the lower half enclosing the ovary and 
persistent; corolla wanting in both kinds of flowers. The fruit is a 
berry-like drupe. 
Elaeagnus, the oleaster or wild olive, is represented in North 
America only by E. argentea, the silver berry of the Western States. 
In Europe a number of species are in cultivation, and one, LE. longipes, 
Fig. 169. Japanese Goumi (Zvacagnus longipes). 
produces a fruit which is edible, and which has grown more popular as 
it has become more widely introduced. Lysargyraea, the buffalo berry, 
consists of three species, all North American shrubs. Hippophae, of 
similar aspect, belong to the Old World. 
Family Lythraceae. Loosestrife Family. Contains about 21 genera 
and 350 species of very wide distribution. They are herbs, shrubs or 
even trees, mostly with opposite leaves. The flowers have petals as 
many as the lobes of the calyx, on which they are borne, or the corolla 
sometimes entirely wanting. Stamens as many as the calyx-lobes. 
Fruit a capsule, with 1-several cells. 
The Loosestrifes proper (Lythrum) are herbs with somewhat weedy 
aspect, of which L. Salicaria is common to both Europe and America. 
The very large genus Cuphea, containing numerous Mexican species, 
exhibiting great diversity in the form and coloration of their flowers, 
which are irregular in shape, is represented in the United States only 
