leaves ovate_ or oblong, pointed, distinctly petioled; _sheaths_ ciliate
or _often with an abrupt spreading border_; flowers large, bright
rose-color, _in dense cylindrical nodding spikes; stamens 7_.--Sparingly
escaped from gardens into waste grounds. (Adv. from India)
P. PERSICARIA, L. (LADY'S THUMB.) Nearly _smooth and glabrous_ (12--18'
high); sheaths more or less bristly-ciliate; leaves lanceolate, pointed,
roughish, often marked with a dark triangular or lunar spot near the
middle; _spikes ovoid or oblong, dense, erect, on smooth_ (or at least
not glandular) _peduncles_; stamens mostly 6; _styles half 2--3-cleft_;
achene gibbous-flattened or sometimes triangular, smooth and
shining.--Waste and damp places, very common. (Nat. from Eu.)
[+][+] _Sepals conspicuously dotted and leaves punctate (except n. 13),
with acrid juice; style mostly 3-parted, and achene triangular; sheaths
bristle-fringed._
13. P. hydropiperoides, Michx. (MILD WATER-PEPPER.) _Perennial, not
acrid_; stem smooth (1--3 deg. high), branching; the narrow _sheaths hairy_;
leaves narrowly lanceolate, sometimes oblong; _spikes erect, slender_,
sometimes filiform, often interrupted at base (1--21/2' long); flowers
small, flesh-color or nearly white; _sepals not dotted; stamens 8;
achene sharply triangular, smooth and shining_.--Wet places and in
shallow water; common, especially southward.
14. P. Hydropiper, L. (COMMON SMARTWEED or WATER-PEPPER.) _Annual_,
1--2 deg. high, smooth; leaves narrowly to linear-lanceolate; _spikes
nodding_, usually short or interrupted; flowers mostly greenish;
_stamens_ 6; style 2--3-parted; _achene dull_, minutely striate.--Moist
or wet grounds; apparently introduced eastward, but indigenous north and
westward. (Eu.)
15. P. acre, HBK. (WATER SMARTWEED.) _Perennial_, nearly smooth; stems
rooting at the decumbent base, 2--5 deg. high; leaves larger and longer than
in the last, taper-pointed; _spikes erect; flowers whitish_, sometimes
flesh-color; _stamens 8_; style _mostly 3-parted; achene smooth and
shining_.--Wet places; common, especially southward.
Sec. 3. BISTORTA. _Glabrous alpine perennials, with thick creeping
rootstocks and simple stems; flowers in a spike-like raceme; calyx
colored, deeply 5-cleft; stamens 8; styles 3, long._
16. P. viviparum, L. Smooth, dwarf (4--8' high), bearing a linear erect
spike of flesh-colored flowers (or often little red bulblets in their
place); leaves lanceolate.--Alpine summits of N. Eng., shores of L.
Superior, and northward. (Eu.)
Sec. 4. TOVARA. _Perennials; flowers in loose naked long and slender
spikes; calyx rather herbaceous (greenish), unequally 4-parted; stamens
5; styles 2, distinct, rigid and persistent on the smooth lenticular
achene._
17. P. Virginianum, L. Almost smooth; stem terete, upright (2--4 deg. high);
sheaths cylindrical, hairy and fringed; leaves ovate, or the upper
ovate-lanceolate, taper-pointed, rounded at the base, short-petioled,
rough-ciliate (3--6' long); flowers 1--3 from each bract, somewhat
curved, the styles deflexed in fruit, minutely hooked.--Thickets in rich
soil, common. (Asia.)
Sec. 5. TINIARIA. _Annuals or perennials, mostly twining or climbing, and
with petioled cordate or sagittate leaves; flowers in loose panicles or
racemes or in terminal or axillary clusters; calyx green with colored
margins, 5- (rarely 4-) parted; stamens mostly 8; styles or stigmas 3_
(2 in n. 18).
[*] _Annuals, erect, or somewhat climbing by reflexed prickles on the
angles of the stem and petioles; sepals (pale rose-color or white) not
keeled; bracts chaff-like._
18. P. arifolium, L. (HALBERD-LEAVED TEAR-THUMB.) _Stem grooved-angled;
leaves halberd-shaped_, taper-pointed, _long-petioled_; flowers somewhat
racemed (few); peduncles glandular-bristly; calyx often 4-parted;
_stamens 6; styles 2_, very short; _achene lenticular_ (large).--Low
grounds. (Asia.)
19. P. sagittatum, L. (ARROW-LEAVED TEAR-THUMB.) _Stem 4-angled; leaves
arrow-shaped, short-petioled_; flowers capitate; peduncles smooth;
_stamens mostly 8; styles 3_, slender; _achene sharply 3-angled_.--Low
grounds, common.--Slender, smooth except the angles of the stem and
midrib beneath, which are armed with fine and very sharp saw-toothed
prickles. (Asia.)
[*][*] _Stems not prickly; calyx with the 3 outer divisions keeled, at
least in fruit; flowers in loose panicled racemes; bracts
short-sheathing._
P. CONVOLVULUS, L. (BLACK BINDWEED.) _Annual_, twining or procumbent,
low, _roughish, the joints naked_; leaves halberd-heart shaped, pointed;
flowers in small interrupted corymbose racemes; _outer calyx-lobes
keeled_; achene smoothish.--Cult. and waste grounds, common. (Nat. from
Eu.)
20. P. cilinode, Michx. _Perennial, minutely downy; the sheaths fringed_
at the base with reflexed bristles; leaves heart-shaped and slightly
halberd-shaped, taper-pointed; racemes panicled; _calyx-lobes obscurely
keeled_; achene very smooth and shining.--Copses and rocky hills, N.
Eng. to mountains of N. C., west to Mich, and Minn. Climbing 3--9 deg. high.
21. P. dumetorum, L., var scandens, Gray. (CLIMBING FALSE BUCKWHEAT.)
_Perennial, smooth; sheaths naked_; leaves heart-shaped or slightly
halberd-shaped, pointed; racemes interrupted, leafy; the 3 outer
_calyx-lobes strongly keeled and in fruit winged_; achene smooth and
shining.--Moist thickets, common. Twining 8--12 deg. high over bushes.
P. CUSPIDATUM, Sieb. & Zucc. Perennial, erect, stout and tall, glabrous
except the loose axillary panicled racemes; leaves round-ovate, shortly
acuminate, truncate or cordate at base; outer sepals broadly winged in
fruit.--Occasionally escaped from gardens. (Japan.)
5. FAGOPYRUM, Tourn. BUCKWHEAT.
Calyx petal-like, equally 5-parted, withering and nearly unchanged in
fruit. Stamens 8. Styles 3; stigmas capitate. Achene 3-sided, longer
than the calyx. Embryo large, in the centre of the albumen, which it
divides into 2 parts, with very broad and foliaceous plaited and twisted
cotyledons.--Glabrous annuals, with triangular-heart-shaped or
halberd-shaped leaves, semicylindrical sheaths, and corymbose racemes or
panicles of white flowers, often tinged with green or rose-color. (Name
from _fagus_, the beech, and [Greek: pyro/s], _wheat_, from the
resemblance of the grain to the beech-nut; so the English name
Buckwheat, from the German _buche_, beech.)
F. ESCULENTUM, Moench. (BUCKWHEAT.) Smoothish; flower with 8
honey-bearing yellow-glands interposed between the stamens; achene acute
and entire, smooth and shining.--Old fields, remaining as a weed after
cultivation, and escaping into copses. June--Sept. (Adv. from Eu.)
F. TATARICUM, Gaertn. (INDIA-WHEAT.) Flowers very small, on shorter
pedicels; achene very dull and roughish, the sides sulcate.--An
occasional escape from cultivation. (Adv. from Asia.)
6. POLYGONELLA, Michx.
Flowers perfect or polygamous-dioecious. Calyx 5-parted, petaloid,
loosely persistent about the achene, the 3 inner divisions often
enlarging in fruit, in which case the outer are usually spreading.
Stamens 8. Styles 3, and achene 3-angular. Embryo slender, straight or
nearly so, toward one side of the albumen.--Slender glabrous annuals or
perennials, with alternate mostly linear leaves jointed at the base, and
rather rigid truncate or oblique naked sheaths and bracts. Flowers on
solitary jointed pedicels (nodding in fruit) in slender panicled
racemes. (Diminutive of Polygonum.)
1. P. articulata, Meisn. Annual, erect, branching, glaucous, 4--12'
high; leaves linear-filiform, deciduous; flowers rose-color, nodding, in
very slender racemes, the calyx a little enlarged in fruit; 3 inner
filaments dilated at base; achene exserted, smooth. (Polygonum
articulatum, _Gray_.)--Dry, sandy soil; on the coast from Maine to
N. J., and along the Great Lakes.
7. BRUNNICHIA, Banks.
Calyx 5-parted; the divisions somewhat petal-like, oblong, connivent and
coriaceous in fruit, the base and almost the whole length of the pedicel
winged on one side. Stamens 8; filaments capillary. Styles 3, slender;
stigmas depressed-capitate. Ovule pendulous on a slender erect
funiculus; seed erect, 6-grooved. Achene obtusely triangular, partly
3-celled, enclosed in the indurated calyx. Embryo in one of the angles
of the mealy albumen, somewhat curved.--Somewhat shrubby with grooved
stems, climbing by tendrils from the ends of the branches. (Named for
_F. Brunnich_, a Danish naturalist.)
1. B. cirrhosa, Banks. Glabrous; leaves ovate or heart-shaped pointed,
entire; petioles dilated at base and partly clasping, but with no
distinct sheath or stipules; flowers greenish, 2--5 in a fascicle from
the axil of an awl-shaped bract, these crowded in axillary and terminal
racemes; pedicel jointed near the base; fruiting calyx with the wing 1'
long.--S. Ill. to S. C. and Fla.
ORDER 90. PODOSTEMACEAE. (RIVER-WEED FAMILY.)
_Aquatics, growing on stones in running water, some with the aspect of_
Sea-weeds, _or others of_ Mosses _or_ Liverworts; _the minute naked
flowers bursting from a spathe-like involucre as in_ Liverworts,
_producing a 2--3-celled many-seeded ribbed capsule_;--represented in
North America by
1. PODOSTEMON, Michx. RIVER-WEED.
Flowers solitary, nearly sessile in a tubular sac-like involucre,
destitute of floral envelopes. Stamens 2, borne on one side of the stalk
of the ovary, with their long filaments united into one for more than
half their length, and 2 short sterile filaments, one on each side;
anthers 2-celled. Stigmas 2, awl shaped. Capsule pedicellate, oval,
8-ribbed, 2-celled, 2-valved. Seeds minute, very numerous on a thick
persistent central placenta, destitute of albumen.--Leaves 2-ranked.
(Name from [Greek: pou~s], _foot_, and [Greek: ste/mon], _stamen_; the
two stamens being apparently raised on a stalk by the side of the
ovary.)
1. P. ceratophyllus, Michx. Leaves rigid or horny, dilated into a
sheathing base, above mostly forked into thread-like or linear
lobes.--Not rare in shallow streams, E. Mass, to Minn., and southward.
July--Sept.--A small olive-green plant, of firm texture, resembling a
Seaweed, tenaciously attached to loose stones by fleshy disks or
processes in place of roots.
ORDER 91. ARISTOLOCHIACEAE. (BIRTHWORT FAMILY.)
_Twining shrubs, or low herbs, with perfect flowers, the conspicuous
lurid calyx valvate in bud and coherent (at least at base) with the
6-celled ovary, which forms a many-seeded 6-celled capsule or berry in
fruit. Stamens 6--12, more or less united with the style; anthers
adnate, extrorse._--Leaves petioled, mostly heart-shaped and entire.
Seeds anatropous, with a large fleshy rhaphe, and a minute embryo in
fleshy albumen. A small family of bitter-tonic or stimulant, sometimes
aromatic plants.
1. Asarum. Stemless herbs. Stamens 12, with more or less distinct
filaments.
2. Aristolochia. Caulescent herbs or twining shrubs. Stamens 6, the
sessile anthers adnate to the stigma.
1. ASARUM, Tourn. ASARABACCA. WILD GINGER.
Calyx regular; the limb 3-cleft or parted. Stamens 12, with more or less
distinct filaments, their tips usually continued beyond the anther into
a point. Capsule rather fleshy, globular, bursting irregularly or
loculicidal. Seeds large, thick.--Stemless perennial herbs, with
aromatic-pungent creeping root-stocks bearing 2 or 3 scales, then one or
two kidney-shaped or heart-shaped leaves on long petioles, and a
short-peduncled flower close to the ground in the lower axil; in spring.
(An ancient name, of obscure derivation.)
Sec. 1. _Calyx-tube wholly adnate to the ovary, the tips inflexed in bud;
filaments slender, much longer than the short anthers; style barely
6-lobed at the summit, with 6 radiating thick stigmas; leaves a single
pair, unspotted._
1. A. Canadense, L. Soft-pubescent; leaves membranaceous, kidney-shaped,
more or less pointed (4--5' wide when full grown); calyx bell-shaped,
the upper part of the short-pointed lobes widely and abruptly spreading,
brown-purple inside.--Hillsides in rich woods; common, especially
northward. (Addendum)--Asarum Canadense. In this species there are
rudimentary subulate petals, alternate with the calyx-lobes.
Sec. 2. _Calyx-tube inflated bell-shaped, somewhat contracted at the
throat, its base adnate to the lower half of the ovary; limb 3-cleft,
short; anthers sessile or nearly so, oblong-linear; styles 6, fleshy,
diverging, 2-cleft, bearing a thick extrorse stigma below the cleft;
leaves thickish, persistent, usually only one each year, often
whitish-mottled; peduncle very short; rootstocks clustered, ascending._
2. A. Virginicum, L. Nearly glabrous; _leaves round-heart-shaped_ (about
2' wide); calyx short, reticulated within; anthers pointless.--Va. to
Ga., in and near the mountains.
3. A. arifolium, Michx. _Leaves halberd-heart-shaped_ (2--4' long);
calyx oblong-tubular, with very short and blunt lobes; _anthers obtusely
short-pointed_.--Va. to Fla.
2. ARISTOLOCHIA, Tourn. BIRTHWORT.
Calyx tubular; the tube variously inflated above the ovary, mostly
contracted at the throat. Stamens 6, the sessile anthers wholly adnate
to the short and fleshy 3--6-lobed or angled style. Capsule naked,
septicidally 6-valved. Seeds very flat.--Twining, climbing, or sometimes
upright perennial herbs or shrubs, with alternate leaves and lateral or
axillary greenish or lurid-purple flowers. (Named from reputed
medicinal properties.)
Sec. 1. _Calyx-tube bent like the letter S, enlarged at the two ends, the
small limb obtusely 3-lobed; anthers contiguous in pairs (making 4 cells
in a row under each of the three truncate lobes of the stigma); low
herbs._
1. A. Serpentaria, L. (VIRGINIA SNAKEROOT.) Stems (8--15' high) branched
at base, pubescent; leaves ovate or oblong (or narrower) from a
heart-shaped base or halberd-form, mostly acute or pointed; flowers all
next the root, short-peduncled.--Rich woods, Conn. to Fla., west to
Mich., Mo., and La. July.--The fibrous, aromatic-stimulant root is well
known in medicine.
Sec. 2. _Calyx-tube strongly curved like a Dutch pipe, contracted at the
mouth, the short limb obscurely 3-lobed; anthers contiguous in pairs
under each of the 3 short and thick lobes of the stigma; very tall
twining shrubs; flowers from one or two of the superposed accessory
axillary buds._
2. A. Sipho, L'Her. (PIPE-VINE. DUTCHMAN'S PIPE.) _Nearly glabrous;
leaves round-kidney-shaped_ (sometimes 8--12' broad); peduncles with a
clasping bract; calyx (11/2' long) with a brown-purple _abrupt flat
border_.--Rich woods, Penn. to Ga., west to Minn. and Kan. May.
3. A. tomentosa, Sims. _Downy or soft-hairy; leaves round-heart-shaped_,
very veiny (3--5' long); _calyx yellowish_, with an _oblique_ dark
purple closed _orifice_ and a _rugose reflexed limb_.--Rich woods,
mountains of N. C. to Fla., west to S. Ill. and Mo. June.
Sec. 3. _Calyx-tube straight, open, with ample 6-lobed limb, the lobes
appendaged; anthers equidistant; erect herbs; flowers in axillary cymose
fascicles._
A. CLEMATITIS, L., with long-petioled cordate leaves, from Europe, is
said to have permanently escaped near Ithaca, N. Y. (_Dudley_).
ORDER 92. PIPERACEAE. (PEPPER FAMILY.)
_Herbs, with jointed stems, alternate entire leaves, and perfect flowers
in spikes, entirely destitute of floral envelopes, and with 3--5 more or
less separate or united ovaries._--Ovules few, orthotropous. Embryo
heart-shaped, minute, contained in a little sac at the apex of the
albumen.--The characters are those of the Tribe _Saurureae_, the
_Piperaceae_ proper (wholly tropical) differing in having a 1-celled and
1-ovuled ovary.
1. SAURURUS, L. LIZARD'S-TAIL.
Stamens mostly 6 or 7, hypogynous, with distinct filaments. Fruit
somewhat fleshy, wrinkled, of 3--4 indehiscent carpels united at base.
Stigmas recurved. Seeds usually solitary, ascending.--Perennial marsh
herbs, with heart-shaped converging-ribbed petioled leaves, without
distinct stipules; flowers (each with a small bract adnate to or borne
on the pedicel) crowded in a slender wand-like and naked peduncled
terminal spike or raceme (its appearance giving rise to the name, from
[Greek: sau~ros], _a lizard_, and [Greek: ou)ra/], _tail_).
1. S. cernuus, L. Flowers white, fragrant; spike nodding at the end;
bract lanceolate; filaments long and capillary.--Swamps, Conn. to Ont.,
Minn., Mo., and southward. June--Aug.
ORDER 93. LAURACEAE. (LAUREL FAMILY.)
_Aromatic trees or shrubs, with alternate simple leaves mostly marked
with minute pellucid dots, and flowers with a regular calyx of 4 or 6
colored sepals, imbricated in 2 rows in the bud, free from the 1-celled
and 1-ovuled ovary, and mostly fewer than the stamens; anthers opening
by 2 or 4 uplifted valves._--Flowers clustered. Style single. Fruit a
1-seeded berry or drupe. Seed anatropous, suspended, with no albumen,
filled by the large almond-like embryo.
[*] Flowers perfect, panicled; stamens 12, three of them sterile, three
with extrorse anthers.
1. Persea. Calyx persistent. Anthers 4-celled. Evergreen.
[*][*] Flowers dioecious, or nearly so; stamens in the sterile flowers
9. Leaves deciduous.
2. Sassafras. Flowers in corymb- or umbel-like racemes. Anthers
4-celled, 4-valved.
3. Litsea. Flowers few in involucrate umbels. Anthers 4-celled,
4-valved.
4. Lindera. Flowers in umbel-like clusters. Anthers 2-celled, 2-valved.
1. PERSEA, Gaertn. ALLIGATOR PEAR.
Flowers perfect, with a 6-parted calyx, persistent at the base of the
berry-like fruit. Stamens 12, in four rows, the 3 of the innermost row
sterile and gland-like, the rest bearing 4-celled anthers (i.e. with
each proper cell divided transversely into two), opening by as many
uplifted valves; the anthers of 3 stamens turned outward, the others
introrse.--Trees, with persistent entire leaves, and small panicled
flowers. (An ancient name of some Oriental tree.)
1. P. Carolinensis, Nees. (RED BAY.) Hoary with a fine down, at least
when young; leaves oblong, pale, soon smooth above; peduncle bearing few
flowers in a close cluster; sepals downy, the outer shorter; berries
dark blue, on a red stalk.--Swamps, S. Del. to Fla. and Tex. May. A
small tree.
2. SASSAFRAS, Nees.
Flowers dioecious, with a 6-parted spreading calyx; the sterile kind
with 9 stamens inserted on the base of the calyx in 3 rows, the 3 inner
with a pair of stalked glands at the base of each; anthers 4-celled,
4-valved; fertile flowers with 6 short rudiments of stamens and an ovoid
ovary. Drupe ovoid (blue), supported on a club-shaped and rather fleshy
reddish pedicel.--Trees, with spicy-aromatic bark, and very mucilaginous
twigs and foliage; leaves deciduous, often lobed. Flowers
greenish-yellow, naked, in clustered and peduncled corymbed racemes,
appearing with the leaves, involucrate with scaly bracts. Leaf-buds
scaly. (The popular name, applied by the early French settlers in
Florida.)
1. S. officinale, Nees. Trees 15--125 deg. high, with yellowish-green twigs;
leaves ovate, entire, or some of them 3-lobed, soon glabrous.--Rich
woods, E. Mass. to S. Ont., Mich., E. Iowa and Kan., and south to the
Gulf. April.
3. LITSEA, Lam.
Flowers dioecious, with a 6-parted deciduous calyx; the sterile with 9
stamens in 3 rows; their anthers all introrse, 4-celled, 4-valved;
fertile flowers with 12 or more rudiments of stamens and a globular
ovary. Drupe globular.--Shrubs or trees, with entire leaves, and small
flowers in axillary clustered umbels. (Name of Chinese origin.)
1. L. geniculata, Benth. & Hook. (POND SPICE.) Flowers (yellow)
appearing before the deciduous oblong leaves, which are hairy on the
midrib beneath; branches forked and divaricate, the branchlets zigzag;
involucres 2--4-leaved, 2--4-flowered; fruit red. (Tetranthera
geniculata, _Nees._)--Swamps, Va. to Fla. April.
4. LINDERA, Thunb. WILD ALLSPICE. FEVER-BUSH.
Flowers polygamous-dioecious, with a 6-parted open calyx; the sterile
with 9 stamens in 3 rows, the inner filaments 1--2-lobed and
gland-bearing at base; anthers 2-celled and 2-valved; fertile flowers
with 15--18 rudiments of stamens in 2 forms, and a globular ovary. Drupe
obovoid, red, the stalk not thickened.--Shrubs, with deciduous leaves,
and honey-yellow flowers in almost sessile lateral umbel-like clusters,
appearing before the leaves (in our species); the clusters composed of
smaller clusters or umbels, each of 4--6 flowers and surrounded by an
involucre of 4 deciduous scales. Leaf-buds scaly. (Named for _John
Linder_, a Swedish botanist of the early part of the 18th century.)
1. L. Benzoin, Blume. (SPICE-BUSH. BENJAMIN-BUSH.) _Nearly smooth_
(6--15 deg. high); _leaves oblong-obovate_, pale underneath.--Damp woods, N.
Eng. to Ont., Mich., E. Kan., and southward. March, April.
2. _L. melissaefolia_, Blume. Young branches and buds _pubescent; leaves
oblong, obtuse or heart-shaped_ at base, downy beneath; umbels few.--Low
grounds, N. C. to Fla., west to S. Ill. and Mo. April.
ORDER 94. THYMELAEACEAE. (MEZEREUM FAMILY.)
_Shrubs, with acrid and very tough (not aromatic) bark, entire leaves,
and perfect flowers with a regular and simple colored calyx, bearing
usually twice as many stamens as its lobes, free from the 1-celled and
1-ovuled ovary_, which forms a berry-like drupe in fruit, with a single
suspended anatropous seed. Embryo large; albumen little or none.
1. Dirca. Calyx tubular, without spreading lobes. Stamens and style
exserted.
2. Daphne. Calyx-lobes (4) spreading. Stamens included. Style very short
or none.
1. DIRCA, L. LEATHERWOOD. MOOSEWOOD.
Calyx petal-like, tubular-funnel-shaped, truncate, the border wavy or
obscurely about 4-toothed. Stamens 8, long and slender, inserted on the
calyx above the middle, protruded, the alternate ones longer. Style
thread-form; stigma capitate. Drupe oval (reddish).--A much-branched
bush, with jointed branchlets, oval-obovate alternate leaves, at length
smooth, deciduous, on very short petioles, the bases of which conceal
the buds of the next season. Flowers light yellow, preceding the leaves,
3 or 4 in a cluster from a bud of as many dark-hairy scales, forming an
involucre, from which soon after proceeds a leafy branch. (Name of
uncertain derivation.)
1. D. palustris, L. Shrub 2--5 deg. high; the wood white, soft, and very
brittle; but the fibrous bark remarkably tough (used by the Indians for
thongs, whence the popular names).--Damp rich woods, N. Brunswick to
Minn. and Mo., south to the Gulf. April.
2. DAPHNE, Linn. MEZEREUM.
Calyx salver-shaped or somewhat funnel-shaped, the border spreading and
4-lobed. Stamens 8, included; the anthers nearly sessile on the
calyx-tube. Style very short or none; stigma capitate. Drupe
red.--Hardy low shrub. (Mythological name of the nymph transformed by
Apollo into a Laurel.)
D. MEZEREUM, L. Shrub 1--3 deg. high, with purple-rose-colored (rarely
white) flowers, in lateral clusters on shoots of the preceding year,
before the lanceolate very smooth green leaves; berries red.--Escaped
from cultivation in Canada, Mass., and N. Y. Early spring. (Nat. from
Eu.)
ORDER 95. ELAEAGNACEAE. (OLEASTER FAMILY.)
_Shrubs or small trees, with silvery-scurfy leaves and perfect or
dioecious flowers_; further distinguished from the Mezereum Family by
the erect or ascending albuminous seed, and the calyx-tube becoming
pulpy and berry-like in fruit, strictly enclosing the achene.
1. Elaeagnus. Flowers perfect. Stamens 4. Leaves alternate.
2. Shepherdia. Flowers dioecious. Stamens 8. Leaves opposite.
1. ELAEAGNUS, Tourn.