332 LYTHRACEAE (LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY) 



few or solitary, short-pediceled. The staminate flowers larger, 4-parted, the 

 lobes spreading; stamens alternate with as many lobes of a thick disk. The 

 pistillate flowers with oblong, tubular perianth, with 4-cleft limb and the throat 

 nearly closed by the 8-lobed disk. Fruit berry-like, with a smooth, shining 

 compressed seed. — (Lepargyrea Raf.) 



Tree-like shrub, thorny; leaves silvery 1. S. argentea. 



Low shrub, thornless; leaves green 2.' S, canadensig. 



1. Shepherdia argentea Nutt. Gen. 2: 241. 1818. A stout' tree-like shrub, 

 2-5 mm. high: leaves silvery on both sides, mostly oblong, obtuse, cuneate 

 at base: flowers fascicled at the nodes: fruit a pmooth, ovoid, scarlet berry, 

 about 5 mm. long, nearly sessile, acid, and edible. Buffalo Berby. — Stream 

 banks; from the Saskatchewan south through the mountains to New Mexico. 



2. Shepherdia canadensis (L.) Nutt. Gen. 2: 240. 1818. A more or less 

 tufted shrub, 1-2 m. high, brownish-scurfy on the branchlets, leaves, and 

 flowers: leaves elUptical or ovate, nearly naked and dark green above, silvery- 

 downy beneath: flowers yellowish: fruit oval, red or yellowish, 5-7 mm. long, 

 the flesh very juicy and exceedingly bitter. — ^Moist, partly wooded mountain 

 slopes; throughout the Rocky Moimtains. 



80. LYTHRACEAE Lindl. Loosestrife Family 



Herbs (ours) with simple and entire leaves, calyx tubular or campanulate 

 and free from the ovary and capsule but inclosing it, the petals and definite 

 stamens borne in its throat, a single style, and numerous small seeds on a 

 central placenta. Distinguished from Haloragidaceae and Onagraceae by the 

 free ovary, and from the former also by the numerous seeds. 



Annual; leaves opposite; calyx 4-angIed I. Ammannia. 



Perennial; upper leaves alternate; calyx striate 2. Lythrum. 



1. AMMAimiA L. 



Low and smooth aimuals, with 4-angIed stems, sessile leaves, and small 

 axillary flowers. Calyx 4-toothed, with as many intermediate, small, tooth- 

 Uke processes. Petals as many, small and fugacious, or none. Stamens 4 or 

 8. Capsule globular, bursting irregularly. Seeds numerous. 



1. Ammannia coccinea Rottb. PI. Hort. Havn. 7: 1773. Stems erect; 

 leaves linear-lanceolate, with a broad auricled base: flowers 1-5 in each axil, 

 mostly closely sessile: petals purple, fugacious: style slender, elongated, 

 A. latifolia. — From the AUeghanies west; infrequent; possibly within qui 

 range. 



2. LYTHRUM L. Loosesteifb 



Erect slender herbs, with angled stems, and axillary, mostly solitary, di- 

 morphous flowers. Caijrx 4-7-toothed, with intermediate tooth-like processes. 

 Petals oblong-obovate, often conspicuous. Ovary 2-celled, with filiform 

 style; stigma capitate. Capsule membranous, inclosed by the calyx. Seeds 

 flat or angular. 



1. Lythrum alatum Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 334. 1814. Tall and wand-like 

 perennial, smooth; branches with margined angles: leaves oblong-ovate to 

 lanceolate, the upper scattered, not longer than the flowers, which are small 

 and nearly sessile in the axils: proper calyx-teeth often shorter than the in- 

 termediate processes: petals purple: stamens of the short-styled flowers ex- 

 serted. — Colorado and Wyoming, east to the Atlantic States. 



