90 
PLANTS OF YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PAKK 
beset with numerous clusters of short, barbed bristles, and usually 
some stouter spines. It often branches profusely and forms large, 
spreading masses. The flowers are yellow or sometimes purplish 
on the outside and orange within. 
OLEASTER FAMILY (ELEAGNACEAE) 
A family composed of shrubs and small trees with entire leaves 
which are more or less covered with silver or brown scales or hairs. 
The family is quite important in some tropical countries but rela¬ 
tively unimportant in our latitude. 
Figure 68.— Pricklypear. Yellow. Copyright, J. E. Haynes. 
Silverberry (Eleagnus argentea ).—A shrub, 3 to 9 feet high, with 
opposite, elliptic, entire leaves. The young branches are brownish, 
with scales, while the leaves and older stems are silvery. The nu¬ 
merous, fragrant flowers occur in the axils of the leaves, 1 to 3 in 
each axil. The flower consists of a 4-lobed calyx, 4 stamens, and 1 
pistil. There are no petals. The flowers are silvery on the outside 
and yellowish within. 
Russet buffaloberry (Shepherdia canadensis ).—A shrub, 3 to 6 feet 
high, with opposite, elliptic or ovate, entire leaves and imperfect 
flowers; the staminate and pistillate flowers on separate plants. The 
leaves are dark green above and silvery below while the branches are 
brownish. The yellowish flowers have a four-lobed calyx and no 
petals. The staminate flowers have 8 stamens and the pistillate 1 
pistil. The fruit is red or yellowish and very juicy, but exceedingly 
bitter. 
