CLXXVII — THE SEA BUCKTHORN. 
Hippophae Rhamnoides Linne. 
T HE Oleaster Family, or Eleeagnaceee, are quite a small group of shrubs, mostly 
belonging to the dry steppes or salt-saturated coasts of the Northern 
Hemisphere. They are for the most part copiously and often spinously branched, 
and have somewhat leathery, entire, exstipulate leaves. Both stems and leaves are 
covered with scales, which are truly hairs, being modified processes of the superficial 
cells. The flowers are arranged racemosely and may be perfect or unisexual, their 
parts being in twos or fours. In perfect or carpellate blossoms the floral receptacle is 
tubular, as in the allied T hy melee acece, but it is sometimes adherent to the ovary. 
There are no petals : the stamens may, as in Thy melee acece, equal the sepals in 
number, or be twice as many ; and the one carpel contains, as in that Family, one 
anatropous ovule ; but it is erect, rising, that is, from the base of the ovarian 
cavity, and not pendulous. The fruit is succulent. 
The Family includes the Oleasters ( Eleeagnus ), from which it takes its name, 
the North American Buffalo-berries (Shepherdia) , and the Sea Buckthorns ( Hippophae ), 
the first-named genus comprising two-thirds of the species in the Family. All three 
genera have species with edible fruit, nor are there any strong medicinal or in any 
way dangerous properties in any of them. The fruits are indehiscent, and the 
pericarp becomes hardened, but is enclosed by the perianth which is persistent and 
juicy, thus constituting a false drupe. 
The name Hippophae dates from Dioscorides, and is apparently derived from 
the Greek LTrnos, hippos, a horse, and paco, phao, I shine ; but, though the silvery 
scales give the plants a lustre which justifies the second half of the name, the prefix 
hippo- has not been satisfactorily explained, nor is it quite clear that these were the 
plants originally intended by this name. They are spinous shrubs, shining with a 
silvery sheen from the stellate scaly hairs with which they are covered. These hairs 
make a very pretty object under the microscope. The leaves are scattered and are 
comparatively small, less than two inches long, at the period of flowering, but 
lengthen to half as long again later. Obovate at first, they become lanceolate, and, 
a dull green above, they are silvery on their under surfaces. The flowers, which 
appear in May, are dioecious and spring from the old wood. The male flowers, 
which are minute, are in axillary catkin-like bracteate clusters, each ovate bract 
having in its axil one flower, consisting of two sepals and four stamens, the latter 
having very short filaments and yellow anthers. The sepals adhere at their tips so 
as to protect the pollen against rain ; but in dry weather they separate at their sides, 
so that the pollen can be blown out by the wind. To secure plenty of the beautiful 
orange berries on the carpellate bushes it is necessary to plant male shrubs near by. 
Pollination can, however, be readily carried out by hand. 
