122 
RABBIT BERRY. 
March, are in clusters. The calyx of the male flower is 
considerably larger than that of the female, and divided 
down to the base into four subovate, obtuse divisions, 
internally yellowish, but outside scaly like the leaves. 
The stamens are eight, with oftentimes rather short 
pubescent filaments; the anthers are oblong and 2- 
celled. The female flowers are smaller and shortly 
pedunculate, without any vestiges of stamens. There 
is one style, and a thickish, oblique, subelliptic stigma. 
The germ appears inferior, but is, in fact, only invested 
by the tube of the calyx. The berries are collected into 
clusters, and are sparingly scattered with scales, but 
bright and pellucid. The seed, or rather nut. with a 
cartilaginous shell, is subovate and shining, much like 
that of Hippophae , it is also scored externally as if 
partly 2-lobed, with a small projection at the base. The 
embryo is straight and flat, without albumen, and the 
radicle inferior. The cotyledons are large, thick and 
oval. Mr. Wyeth, in the Rocky Mountains, observed 
a variety of this species with yellow berries. 
Plate XXXV. 
A branch of the natural size. 
A second species of this genus is the 
SHEPHERDIA canadensis, or Canadian Shepherdia, 
with elliptic-ovate leaves, nearly smooth above and 
naked beneath, clothed with stellate hairs and ferrugi- 
nous scales, the flowers are also in axillary spikes. This 
species, it appears from Hooker, ranges far to the north, 
throughout Canada to Fort Franklin, on Mackenzie 
River, and from Newfoundland and Hudson’s Bay to the 
Rocky Mountains. In the State of New York I have 
