2/8 OLEACEiE. 



ten pairs of nerves. " Panicles 3 to 4 inches. Flowers 

 54 inch. Calyx 1/16 inch. Fruit % by ^ inch." 



Pulneys : Gundan shola. Bourne 126']. (No flowers or fruit 

 seen.) Nilgiris : on the eastern slopes. Wight. 



O L E A . F.B.I. 92 VIII. 



Olive. 



Shrubs and trees with opposite leaves and terminal 

 or axillary panicles of small flowers with four small 

 calyx points, four corolla lobes folded inwards not 

 twisted in bud, two stamens, an ovary of two cells each 

 with two pendulous ovules, and fruit an ellipsoid or 

 nearly globular drupe resting in the cup-shaped enlarged 

 top of stalk, with one seed only enclosed by a hard bony 

 endocarp (distinction from LIGUSTRUM). 



Species about 35, from the north temperate zone scmth- 

 wards to South Africa and New Zealand. 



Olca bournci Fyson ; VIII 2." A tree, standing some- 

 times higher than the rest of the shola, occasionally in 

 the open. Branches grey, much lenticelled ; the smaller 

 twigs very regularly opposite and decussate, slightly 

 or much swollen at the nodes. Leaves spreading or 

 laxly drooping : stalk % to I inch, slender, appressed, 

 against the stem, puberous : blade lax, broadly ovate or 

 elliptic-acuminate, narrowed at the base to the stalk, dark 

 green, and shiny on the upper side, paler below, quite 

 glabrous : nerves irregular about four pairs, commonly 

 with small perforated swellings in the axils. Flowers 

 in regular decussately branched panicles, terminating 

 the branches and in the upper axils, fragrant : peduncle 

 I to lYz inches: ultimate pedicels 1/30 inch, or less. 

 Buds globular 1/20 inch. Corolla ^ inch across, nearly 

 flat; the petals rounded, 1/16 inch. Calyx half as long. 



