178 7 OLEINE^E. [Fraxinus. 



Ord. 47. OLEINEiE. Hoffmannsegg and Link. Olive 

 Family. 



Flowers perfect or sometimes dioecious. Calyx monophyl- 

 lous, divided, persistent, inferior. Corolla hypogynous, mono- 

 petalous, 4-cleft, occasionally of 4 petals, connected in pairs by 

 the intervention of the filaments, sometimes without petals ; 

 sestivation somewhat valvate. Stamens 2, alternate with the 

 segments of the corolla or the petals ; anthers 2-celled, opening 

 longitudinally. Ovarium simple, without any hypogynous disk, 

 2-celled ; the cells 2-seeded ; the ovules pendulous and colla- 

 teral. Style 1 or 0. Stigma bifid or undivided. Fruit drupa- 

 ceous, berried, or capsular ; often by abortion 1-seeded. Seeds 

 with dense, fleshy, abundant albumen ; embryo straight ; coty- 

 ledons foliaceous, partly asunder; radicle superior; plumula 

 inconspicuous. — Trees or shrubs. Leaves opposite, simple, sel- 

 dom pinnated. Flowers in terminal or axillary racemes or 

 panicles ; the pedicels opposite, with single bractece. 



1. Ligustrum. Linn. Privet. 



Corolla 4-cleft. Berry 2-celled, with the cells 2-seeded. — 

 Name from ligo, to bind, on account of the use sometimes 

 made of its long and pliant branches. 



Diandria. Monogynia. 



1. L. vulgare, Linn. Common Privet. Leaves elliptico- 

 lanceolate ; panicle compact. Br. Fl. 1. p. 3. E. Fl. v. i. p. 

 13. E. Bot. t. 764. 



Hedges. Fl. June, July. T? . — A bush with opposite leaves, often 

 used for hedges, mixed with the common thorn, particularly the ever- 

 green variety. Floicers small, white. Berries black, globose. 



2. Fraxinus. Linn. Ash. 



Calyx 0, or 4-cleft. Corolla 0, or of four petals. Capsule 

 2-celled, 2-seeded, compressed and foliaceous at the extre- 

 mity. Seeds solitary, pendulous. (Some flowers without 

 stamens.) — Name from (ppagis, a separation, in allusion to the 

 facility with which the wood may be split. 



Diandria. Monogynia. 



1. F. excelsior, Linn. Common Ash. Leaves pinnated; 

 leaflets ovato-lanceolate, acuminate, serrated ; flowers without 

 either calyx or corolla. Br. Fl. 1. p. 11. E. Fl. v. i. p. 14. 

 E. Bot. t. 1692. 



Woods and hedge-rows. T? . — A lofty tree, the wood of which is 



