313 FRAXINUS. 



Few of us are unacquainted with these species of tlie lilac. Their dark green 

 and glossy leaves, their fine clusters of wiiite and purple flowers, their strong 

 and peculiar fruLTanee, and the early appearance of the blossoms, justly 

 entitle them to the conspicuous place they usually occupy in our shrub- 

 beries. Persian Lilac, 



2. LIGU' STRUM. 



Calyx minulelj toothed; corolla lube short, limb with 

 spreading, ovate lobes; berry 2-celled, 2 — 4-seeded. 



Lat. Ugo, to bind ; from the use made of its shoots. Shrubs with simple 

 leaves. Fls in terminal panicles, tetramerous. Stamens 2. Style very 

 short. Seeds convex on one side, angular on the other. 



L. vulga're. 



icarcs lanceolate and obovate, acute or obtuse, on short petioles; panicle 

 dense, terminal. A smooth shrub, 5 — G feet high. Branches wand-like with 

 opposite, entire, smooth, dark green leaves which are 1 — 2 inches long, h as 

 wide, varying from obovate to elliptical, with a rounded, obtuse or acute point. 

 Flowers sniuli, numerous, white. Anthers large, exsetted. Berries black, 

 in conical bunches, bitter. Common in woods and thickets, N. York. Said 

 to have been introduced from England where it is used for hedges. May, 

 June. Piivet. Friiii. 



3. FRAXI'NUS. 



Flowers dioeciously polygamous. Slamhiale. jls. (often 

 perfect). — Calyx or 3 — 4-|jaried; corolla or 4-pelaled ; 

 stamens 2. PisUllale Jls. — Calyx and corolla as the perfect; 

 samara 2 celled, by abortion 1-seeded. 



Gr. (pga|i5. a separation ; in allusion to tlie easy separation of its annual 

 layers into laminae. Trees. Lvs. unequally pinnate. Fls. paniculate, the 

 staininate ones densely so. HI. short. Antii. large, with 4-i'urrows. Stig. 

 cleft. Fruit compressed and leafy at the end, lanceolate, solitary, pendulous. 



1. F. ACUMINA'TA. Lam. F.Americana. iVilld. 

 Leaflets petiolate, oblong, shining, entire or slightly toothed, acuminate, 



glaucous beneath ; flowers calyculate. The white ash is one of the most de- 

 sirable tenants of our forests It is chiefly confined to the nortliern parts of 

 the U. States and Canada. Few trees exceed it in tlie beauty and magnitude 

 of its proportions. Tlie trunk arises often more than 40 feet williouta branch 

 and then e.vpands into a regular summit of an equal additional hight. The 

 leaves are a foot or more in length, op|)osite, pinnate, consisting of about 7 

 leaflets. Flowers in loose panicles, the fertile ones with a calyx and the 

 barren ones without. The wood is lichl, firm, elastic and durable, furnishing 

 a most excellent timber for carriage fraisies, agricultural impleirients, pins, 

 handspikes, bars, &c. May. Witite Ask. 



2. F. sambucifo'lia. Muh. 



Leaflets sessile, ovate-lanceolate, serrate, rugose and shining, round-oblique 

 at the base; axils of tke veins villous beneath ; yZowe/A- naked. This specie3 

 is common in the northern U. S. and the British Provinces, where it is almost 

 universally known as black ash. it prcfi^rs moist woods and even swamps 

 which it sometimes ahnost exclusively occupies, it grows to tiie hight of 

 €0—70 feet, with a diameter of 2. The bark is of a darker hue than that of 

 EB 



