Okber 111.— ELEAGNAOBiE. 623 



Calyx somewhat urceolate, tube adherent, limb 4 to 5-parted ; stamens 

 4 to 5, opposite the sepals, and connected to them by a tuft of hairs ; 

 filaments inserted into the top of the perigynous, 5-lobed disk, between 

 its lobes; fruit drupaceous, 1 -seeded, crowned with the limb of the 

 calyx. — Very smooth, suffruticous plants. Ped. axillary and terminal. 

 Fls. small, umbellate. 



S 1. EucOMAHDBA. Flowcrs poifect. Leaves all alternate No. 1 



§ 2. Darbya. Flowers dioecious. Leaves mostly opposite No. 2 



1 C. umbellata Nutt. Erect ; Ivs. oval-lanceolate ; fls. subcorymbed, terminal ; 

 connecting hairs yellow. — y Plant about a foot high, in rocky woods, U. S. and 

 Brit. Am. Stem slender, striate, generally branching at top. Leaves entire, al- 

 ternato, aoutish, 1 — IJ' long, and ^ as wide, tapering to a very short petiola 

 Flowers small, white, in little umbels of about 3. Each umbel is furnished with 

 a deciduous involucre of about 4 small leaflets, the whole constituting a kind of 

 corymb. June. 



2 C. Ddrbya A. DO. Lvs. elliptical; cymes lateral, about 5-flowered; caly^; 

 lobes spreading-reflexed, connecting hairs white. — G-a. near Macon (Darby), N. 

 Car. near Lincolnton (Curtis). A small shrub with terete, blackish branches, the 

 branchlets herbaceous, short, leafy. Lvs. thin and pale, 12 to 18" by 5 to 8", 

 short-petioled, apex obtuse or submueronate. Cymes shorter than the leaves, 

 on slender peduncles. Pedicels 1 or 2" long. Bracts deciduous. Calyx lobes 

 ovate, acute. Fruit unknown. (Darbya umbellulata Gray.) 



Ordeb ex. THYMELACE^. Daphnads. 



Shrubs with a very tough, acrid bark, entire leaves and perfect flowers, with the 

 take tubular, colored, the limb 4 (4 or 5)-parted, regular, the tube bearing the siam- 

 ens as many or usually twice as many aa its lobes, and free from the ovary, which 

 is l-ceUed, 1-ovuled, the suspended seed with little or no albumen. 



G67ie^'a 40, speciett 875, very abundant in Australia and S. Africa, sparingly disseminated in 

 Europe and Asia. The only N. American genus is the following. 



Properties. — The bark is acrid and caustic, raising blisters upon the skin. It is composed of 

 interlaced fibers, which are extremely tough, but easily separable. The lace-bark tree (Lagetta) 

 of Jamaica is particularly remarkable for this property. 



DIR'CA, L. Leather-wood. (Gr. dipita, a fountain ; the shrub 



grows near mountain streams or rivulets.) Calyx colored, tubular, 



with a truncate or obscurely 4-toothcd limb ; stamens 8, unequal, 



longer than and inserted into the tube ; style 1 ; berry 1-seeded. — Lvs. 



alternate, simple. Fls. expanding before the oblong-obovate lvs., 3 



. from each bud. 



D. paMstris L. — A .shrub 5f in height when full grown, U. S. and Can. The fls. 



appear in April and May, much earlier than the leaves. They are small, yellow, 



funnel-shaped, about 3 together, with a bud-like involucre. Lvs. from the same 



buds, entire, on short petioles, pale underneath. Stam. much longer tlian the 



calyx, alternately a long and a short one. Berry oval, small, red. Every part 



of this shrub is very tough. The twigs furnish "rods for the fool's back," the 



bark is used for ropes, baskets, &o. 



DAPHNE is a genus differing from Dirca by its spreading calyx limb and 

 included stamens. 



D. Mezereum, with deciduous lvs. and D. lanceola with evergreen lvs. are 

 occasionally cultivated. 



Order CXI. ELEAGNACEiE. Oleasters. 



Shrubs or trees usually with the leaves covered with a silvery scurf, entire; 

 flowers mostly dioecious, the calyx free, entire, persistent, becoming in fruit pulpy 



