443 



Ci)C Eiea£ur» at botany. 



[EL.<E 



Tarnish tree. M. Triana, to whose account 

 in the Bulletin de la Soc. Bot. de France, 

 1858, p. 500, we are indebted for these 

 paiticulars, dwells with justice on the ira- ! 

 portance of developing this manufacture, 

 and of cultivating this and allied plants 

 producing similar secretions in other loca- 

 lities. The temperature of the district 

 where the Elceagia is chiefly found ranges 

 from 54° to 74= p. Some better method 

 of preparing the resin might no doubt 

 be adopted. [M. T. MJ j 



EL.EAGNACE.E (Oleasters). A natural 

 order of monochlamydeous dicotyledons, 

 belonging to Lindley's amental alliance of 

 diclinous Exogens. Trees or shrubs usually 

 covered with scales or scurf, having exsti- 

 pulate entire leaves, and usually imperfect 

 flowers. Staminate flowers in catkins, ari- 

 sing each from a scale-like bract ; perianth 

 of two to four leaves, sometimes united; 

 stamens three, four, or eight. Pistillate 

 and perfect flowers with a tubular perianth 

 and a fleshy disk ; ovary free, one-celled, 

 i with one ovule ; fruit a crustaceous achene, 

 enclosed within the succulent perianth. 

 ; Chieflynatives of thenorthernhemisphere. 

 i Represented in Britain by Hippopliae rham- 

 | noides, the sea buckthorn, a spiny shrub 

 ; which grows well near the sea, and forms 

 I a good fence; it is covered with silvery 

 | scurf, which is a beautiful object under the 

 microscope ; its fruit is sometimes eaten. 

 Elceagnus parvifolia bears clusters of red 

 edible berries, mottled with scales. The 

 fruit called in Persia zinzeyd is the produce 

 of Elceagnus orientalis. Some of the plants 

 of the order are said to possess narcotic 

 qualities. There are four known genera 

 and thirty species. Examples : Shepherdia, 

 Hippopliae, Elceagnus. [J. H. B.] 



ELiEAGXUS. The Oleaster or Wild 

 Olive tree. A small tree native of the 

 southern countries of Europe and several 

 parts of Asia, which received its name 

 : from its resemblance to the true olive, 

 ! from which, however, it differs in notbear- 

 ! ing useful fruit. The two plants in reality 

 belong to different orders, the present 

 ; plant giving name to the order Elceagnaeece. 

 E. hortensis, the species most commonly 

 I grown in English gardens, attains the 

 height of from fifteen to twenty feet. 

 The leaves are long and narrow, covered, as 

 I well as the young shoots, with stars of 

 ; hairs of a hoary colour. The branches are 

 brown and smooth, more or less spiny. 

 The flowers are of two kinds, some con- 

 taining stamens and pistils, which are four- 

 cleft, pale yellow within ; the others, with 

 stamens and an abortive pistil, are five to 

 eight-cleft, and of a golden yellow within ; 

 all are axillary, two or three together on 

 short stalks, and fragrant. It flowers in 

 May, and ripens its fruit, which is of a red- 

 brown colour, something like a small date, 

 in August. The blossoms, which are pro- 

 duced in great abundance, perfume the 

 air for a considerable distance round. 

 For this reason it is a most desirable 

 tree for a lawn or shrubbery. French, 



Olivier de Bolieme; Gen 

 baume. 



Wilde OeU 

 [C. A. J.] 



EL.EIS. A genus of palms comprising 

 the Oil Palm of Africa, and another closely 

 allied American species. They have thick 

 trunks of no great height, indeed the 

 American species creeps along the ground, 

 and bears a tuft of large pinnate leaves, 

 with strong prickly stalks. The male and 

 female flowers are borne in distinct heads, 

 generally upon different trees, but occa- 

 sionally upon the same ; each head consist- 

 ing of numerous little branches of minute 

 flowers, gathered together into a dense 

 mass and enclosed while young in two 

 complete spathes. The males are packed 

 very close together, so that the branches 

 resemble catkins ; the females are spread 

 farther apart. The fruit, wliicli is yellow 

 or bright red, is irregular in form, gener- 



EIebis guineensis. 



ally angular and somewhat three-sided, and 

 larger at the bottom tlan the top. It con- 

 sists of an outer coating of fibrous oily 

 flesh, surrounding a hard nut. E. guineen- 

 sis, the African Oil Palm, which yields the 

 celebrated palm oil, is a native of tropical 

 Western Africa, where it is found in great 

 abundance ; and from whence it has been 

 introduced into the West Indies. It grows 

 twenty or thirtyfeet high, the trunk being 

 covered with the remains of the stalks of 

 dead leaves. The fruits are borne in 

 dense heads, measuring a foot and a half 

 or two feet Ions, and from two to three 

 feet in circumference, the individual 

 fruits being about an inch and a half 

 long, by an inch in diameter. The part 

 yielding the palm oil is the outer fleshy 

 coating of the fruit, but the seed, which 

 is enclosed in a hard shell, likewise affords 

 an oil, small quantities of which occa- 

 sionally come to this country. Commer- 

 cial palm oil is about the consistence of 

 butter, of a bright orange-red colour, and 

 has a rather pleasant violet-like odour 

 when perfectly fresh. It is obtained by 

 boiling the fruits in water and skimming 



