SOLA.NALES.] 



OLEACE^ 



617 



emollient, and laxative. It enters extensively into the preparation of plasters, liniments, 

 cerates, ointments, and enemas. As an external application, accompanied by long- 

 continued friction of the skin, it has been found beneficial in preventing the contagious 

 influence of the plague. The bark is bitter and astringent, and has had a great reputa- 

 tion as a substitute for Cinchona, accoi'ding to De Candolle. It also yields a kind of 

 gum, or rather a gum-like substance, once in repute as a \Tilnerary. Its wood is 

 extremely dm'able and close-grained. The flowers are frequently slightly fragi*ant; 

 those of Olea fragrans ai-e employed in Chma for flavouring tea. The sweet, gentle 

 purgative, called Manna, is a concrete discharge from the bark of several species of 

 Ash, but especially from Fraxinus rotundifolia. The sweetness of this substance is not 

 due to the presence of sugar, but to a distinct princii)le, called ^Mannite, which diff'ers 

 from sugar m not fermentuig with water and yeast. Fraxinus excelsior (the common 

 Ash) not only yields Manna, in the warm climate of the south of Eiu'ope, but is 

 reported to have a tonic febrifugal bark, and leaves almost as cathartic as those of 

 Senna, producing an unequivocal action upon the kidneys. The febrifugal qualities of 

 the Lilac, Syringa vulgaris are undoubted. In that part of the province of Berri called 

 Bremie, which is marshy and insalubrious to the last degree, the peasants employ no 

 other remedy for the intermittent fever which pi*evails there. According to Meillet this 

 quaUty is apparently owing to a principle which he calls Lilacine. — Pharm. Jourii. 1. 557. 



I. Ohi&m. — Fruit a drupe 

 or berry. 



Chionanthua, Linn. 

 Linociera, Swartz. 



Thouinia, Swartz. 



Minutia, Flor Plum. 

 Tessarandra, Miers. , 

 Mayepea, Auhl. j 



Freyeria, Scop. 



Ceranthiis, Schreb. 



GEN 



Boaria, A. DC. 

 Noronhia, Stadlm. 

 Olea, Tourn. 

 Picconia, A. DC. 

 Visiania, A. DC. 

 Phillyrea, Tournef. 

 Osmanthus, Lour. 

 Notelaea, Vent. 



Rhysospermum, Gartn. 

 Stereoderma, Blum. 



ERA. 



Pachy derma, Blum. 

 Ligustrum, Tourne/. 

 Myospyrum, Bl. 

 Chondrospermum , Wall. 

 Tetrapilus, Lour. 



II, Fraxin'e.b. — Fruit 

 samaroid. 



Fraxinus, Tourne/. 



Ornus , Pers. 

 Fontanesia, Labill. 



Desfontainesia, Iloff. 

 SjTinga, Linn. 



Lilac, Toumef. 

 Forsythia, Vahl. 

 Xathusia, Hochst. 

 ? Tetrapilus, Lour. 



Numbers. Gen. 24. Sp. 130. 



Position. — 



Aceraceee. 

 — Oleace^. — Solauaceaj. 

 Jasiiiinacece. 



Fig. CCCCXVI.* 



Fig. CCCCXVI.*—!. flower of Ligustrum vulgare ; 2. perpendicular section of calyx and pistil 

 3. cross section of fruit, showing an abortive cell ; 4. cross section of a seed. 



