172 OLIVE FAMILY 



the air with their fragrance. The oblong fruit, half an 

 inch in length, is edible. 



The oblong leathery leaves, one to three inches long, 

 of black haw, or chittimwood, B, lanuginosa, which blooms 

 in summer, are noticeable because of the dense reddish 

 bro'^Ti pubescence covering the under surface, and con- 

 trasting with the shining green above. 



The silver buckthorn, B. tenax, which grows chiefly 

 near the coast, but does not extend to the extreme south- 

 em part of the peninsula, has leaves that are clothed 

 beneath with a lustrous gray or tawny pubescence. 



OLIVE FAMILY {Oleaceae) 



Trees or shrubs. Leaves opposite. Flowers small, white or 

 green, tubular at base, 4-6-lobed, in clusters along the 

 branches. Stamens 2 or 4. Fruit a small drupe. 



Wild Olive. Devilwood (Genus Osmanthus) 



The wild olive is common in Florida woods, and, like 

 its allies the jessamines, lilacs, syringas, and sweet olive, 

 its flowers have an agreeable fragrance. It grows as a 

 handsome shrub or small tree with shining, evergreen, 

 entire elliptical leaves, three to seven inches long, and 

 bears in late winter axillary clusters of tiny whitish flowers, 

 whose four lobes are strongly recurved. Like many other 

 of our native trees it is admirable for ornamental plant- 

 ing, and thrives even on high pineland. 0. americana 

 has dark purple, olive-like fruit, about half an inch long. 

 The rarer 0. floridana has slightly larger green or yellow- 

 ish fruit. 



Florida Privet (Genus Adelia (Forestiera)) 



Several species of this genus grow in the state, and in 

 the peninsula are found chiefly near the coast, though 



