DAPHNE 



OLEASTEB OBDEB 



BL^AGNUS 779 



some glossy green leaves and an abun- 

 dance of pretty rosy flowers, produced in 

 summer and autumn. 



Culture dc. as above. It is weU suited 

 for the rock garden, and flourishes in 

 peaty soil among limestone rocks. 



D. pontica. — ^A fine evergreen shrub 

 4-5 ft. high, native of eastern Europe and 

 Asia Minor. Leaves smooth, obovate, 

 lance-shaped. Flowers in April and May, 

 greenish - yellow, fragrant, in many- 

 flowered upright cliisters, two on a stalk. 

 There is a very rare form having varie- 

 gated leaves. 



Culture dc. as above. This species, 

 like D. Lcmreola, is excellent for shady 

 spots under trees. 



D. sericea (D. collima). — An erect 

 evergreen Italian shrub 2-3 ft. high, with 

 obovate leaves, smooth and shining green 

 above, stifily hairy beneath. Flowers 

 from January to June, pinkish, in ter- 

 minal clusters, and having a silky hairy 

 calyx. 



Culture dc. as above. 



D. striata. — A European evergreen 

 about 2 ft. high, forming dense twiggy 



bushes and characterised by stalkless 

 somewhat spoon- shaped linear leaves. 

 Flowers in June and July, rosy-purple, 

 sweet-scented, in terminal clusters. 

 Culture dc. as above. 



DIRCA (Leatheewood). — A genus 

 with only two species of branching shrubs 

 with alternate deciduous membranous 

 leaves. Flowers hermaphrodite with a 

 petal-like perianth, tubular at the base, 

 contracted above the ovary, and having 

 a truncate sinuate or very shortly 4-cleft 

 non-spreading limb. Stamens eight, pro- 

 truding. Ovary sessile, smooth ; style 

 thread-like, protruding. Fruit a naked 

 berry. 



D. palustris. — ^A much-branched North 

 American shrub 2-5 ft. high, havmg the 

 habit of a miniature tree, and bearing 

 alternate lance-shaped oblong pale green 

 leaves, hairy beneath. Flowers in March^ 

 before the leaves appear, yellowish, in 

 terminal clusters, the protruding yellow 

 stamens being conspicuous. 



Culture cmd Propagation. — This dis- 

 tinct plant thrives in a moist cool peaty 

 soil, and may be increased by layers like 

 the Daphnes or by imported seeds. 



CI. ELiEAGNACE/E— Oleaster Order 



An order consisting of trees or shrubs more or less covered with minute 

 silvery or brownish scurfy scales. Leaves alternate or opposite, entire, 

 penniveined, without stipules. Flowers hermaphrodite or 1-sexed and often 

 dioecious, borne in axillary clusters, panicles, or catkins. Bracts small 

 deciduous. Perianth in the hermaphrodite or female flowers tubular, con- 

 stricted and persistent above the ovary, deciduous higher up, 2-4-lobed or 

 rarely truncate. Stanaens 4 alternating with the lobes, or 8 opposite and 

 alternate. Staminodes in female flowers none. Ovary sessile at the base or 

 the perianth, 1-celled. Style terminal, linear or dilated above, oblique,, 

 stigmatose on one side. Eruit superior, 1-celled, 1-seeded, enclosed in the 

 perianth tube. 



This order contains only the 3 genera described below, and about 20 

 species. 



EL.£AGNUS (Oleaster ; Wild 

 Olive). — A genus of trees or shrubs often 

 covered with silvery scales, and having 

 opposite stalked entire leaves, and herma- 

 phrodite flowers in clusters, or solitary 

 in the axils of the leaves. Perianth bell- 

 or salver-shaped. Stamens 4. Fruit a 

 spurious drupe formed by the fleshy 

 perianth tube enclosing a one-seeded nut. 



Culture and Propagation. — The Ole- 

 asters flourish in ordinary good garden 

 soil that is not too moist or in too shady 

 a situation. They are not yet very weU 

 known, although some have been in culti- 

 vation for many years, and are beautiful 

 shrubs. Increase is effected by means of 

 seeds, cuttings, or layers, and sometimes 

 by grafting. Cuttings of the half-ripened 



