222 



logy of their juices and their fibres. Thus the Lilac will graft upon the Ash, 

 the Chionanthus and the Fontanesia, and I have even succeeded in making 

 the Persian Lilac live ten years on Phyllirea latifolia. The Olive will take on 

 the Phyllirea, and even on the Ash : but we cannot graft the Jasmine on any 

 plant of the Olive tribe ; a circumstance which confirms the propriety of sepa- 

 rating these two tribes." 



Geography. Natives chiefly of temperate latitudes, inclining .towards the 

 tropics, but scarcely known beyond 65° N. lat. The Ash is extremely abundant 

 in North America ; the Phyllireas and Syringas are all European or Eastern 

 plants. A few are found in New Holland and elsewhere within the tropics. 

 One Ash is a native of Nipal. 



Properties. This order offers almost the only instance of oil being con- 

 tained in the pericarp ; from which Olive oil is entirely expressed ; in most other 

 plants oil is yielded by the seed. The flowers are frequently slightly fragrant ; 

 those of Oleafragrans are employed in China for flavouring tea. The bark of the 

 Olive, but especially of the Ash, is so bitter and astringent, that it has been not 

 only highly celebrated as a febrifuge, but even compared with Quinquina (Dec.) 

 for effect. The sweet gentle purgative, called Manna, is a concrete discharge 

 from the bark of several species of Ash, but especially from Fraxinus rotundi- 

 folia. The sweetness of this substance is not due to the presence of sugar, but 

 to a distinct principle, called Mannite, which differs from sugar in not ferment- 

 ing with water and yeast. Turner, 682. A peculiar substance, called Olivile, 

 is contained in the gum Olea europsea. Ibid. 701. 



Examples. Olea, Phyllirea, Ligustrum, Chionanthus, Fraxinus. 



CCVI. MYRSINE^E. 



Ophiosperma, Vent. Jard. Cels. 86. (1800).— MyrsinevE, R. Brown Prodr. 532. (1810.) 



Diagnosis. Monopetalous arborescent dicotyledons, with regular flowers, 

 an entire superior 1-celled ovarium with a free central placenta, and indehiscent 

 fleshy fruit. 



Anomalies. iEgiceras has no albumen, and the cells of its anthers are 

 cellular. 



_ Essential Character.— Flowers monoclinous or polygamous. Calyx 4- or 5-clcft, per- 

 Bistent. Corolla monopetalous, hypogy nous, 4- 5-cleft, equal. Stamens 4-5, opposite (he seg- 

 ments of the corolla ! into the bases of which they are inserted; filaments distinct, rarely 

 connate, sometimes wanting-, sometimes 5 sterile petaloid alternate ones; anthers attached by 

 their emarginate base, with 2 cells, dehiscing longitudinally. Ovarium 1, with a singlecelliu 

 a free central placenta, in the midst of which is immersed a definite or indefinite number of 

 peltate ovula ; style 1, often very short; stigma lobed or undivided. Fruit fleshy, mostly 

 1-seeded, sometimes 2-4-seeded. Seeds peltate, with a hollow hilum and a simple integument ; 

 albumen horny, of the same shape as the seed ; embryo lying across the hilum, taper, usually 

 curved; cotyledons short ; radicle, if several seeds ripen, inferior. Plumula inconspicuous.— 

 Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, undivided, serrated or entire, coriaceous, smooth ; some- 

 times under-shrubs, with opposite or ternate leaves. Inflorescence in umbels, corymbs, or 

 panicles, axillary, seldom terminal. Flowers small, white or red, often marked with sunken 

 dots or glandular lines. 



Affinities. Scarcely different from Primulaceae, except in their arbores- 

 cent habit and fleshy fruit ; the embryo always lies across the hilum, and the 

 stamens are opposite the lobes of the corolla, as in that order ; add to which, 

 the connivence of the anthers in a cone, which is frequent in Primulacea;, is 

 common in Myrsmeee also. Mr. Brown remarks (1. c), that the order is re- 



