OLEACE^— OLIVE TRIBE 231 



4-cleft ; fruit a 2-celled berry. Named from ligo, to bind, from the use made 

 of its twigs. 



2. Ash (Frdxinns). — Calyx 4-cleft or wanting ; corolla none, or of 4 petals 

 joined at their base ; fruit a winged 2-celled samara. Name, the Latin name 

 of the tree, alluding to the ease with which the timber splits. 



1. Privet (Ligusfrum). 



Privet (L. vulgdre). — Leaves narrow, elliptical, entire, smooth ; panicles 

 terminal, compound, dense ; perennial. We have often thought, when looking 

 at this shrub when in flower, that its old name of Prim, or Primprint, was 

 very expressive of its neat and somewhat formal appearance. It, however, 

 doubtless owed this to its having been one of the plants selected by the old 

 gardeners for cutting into various forms, and which, therefore, wore to the 

 eyes of our fathers an artificial formality. It is very common in our hedges, 

 bearing even in winter numbers of dark, somewhat dull-green leaves, and 

 bunches of black glossy berries as large as currants. But common as it is, 

 we must not assume that it is always a native plant. Mr. Hewett C. Watson, 

 who has made a profound study of the geographical distribution of plants, 

 says that, except when growing upon sea-clifis and in chalk districts, we must 

 regard the Privet as naturalized only. In May and June its pyramidal 

 clusters of white flowers are abundant, having a slight but somewhat 

 unpleasant odour, and soon assuming a dull yellowish-brown hue. The Privet 

 is one of the few shrubs which thrive under the shadow and drip of trees, 

 and it is therefore often planted in shrubberies ; Avhile, from its bearing 

 smoke without injury, it is commonly found in the gardens of London and 

 other large towns. The flexible boughs are occasionally used, like osiers, for 

 baskets and various rustic purposes. One of our old writers says of this 

 plant : — "Our common Privet is carried up with many slender branches to a 

 reasonable height and breadth to cover arbours, bowers, and banqueting- 

 houses, and wrought and cut into so many forms of even horses, birds, and 

 other things, which though at first supported, groweth afterwards strong of 

 itself." The writer proceeds to relate how the Privet was praised for its 

 medicinal virtues by Dioscorides and Galen, and says that Matthiolus con- 

 siders that oil made of the flowers of the Privet, and set in the sun, is 

 " singular good for the inflammation of wounds, and for the headache." He 

 adds that a distilled water was often made of the flowers. 



The berries are, in our days and country, the most useful part of the plant. 

 They are perfectly innocuous, and many birds, especially partridges and bull- 

 finches, will feed upon them; but, from the length of time which they 

 remain on the tree, we must infer that as long as the fruits of the hawthorn, 

 mountain ash, and other favourite berries are attainable, those of the Privet 

 are neglected. They are sometimes mixed by dyers with the berries of the 

 buckthorn, and a good pink as well as green dye may, by ditt'erent modes of 

 preparation, be procured from this plant. An oil, useful for various domestic 

 purposes, is also expressed from the berries, and their juice enters into the 

 pigment of the ai'tist commonly called sap-green. Glove manufacturers use 

 the fruit in giving the black colour to kid. A friend of the writer saw boys 

 gathering them into baskets in large numbers for this purpose, both in 



