APOCYNE^— PERIWINKLE TRIBE 235 



lators is, however, thought to refer to the pine-tree, and is so translated in 

 the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate, and this opinion has been agreed 

 to by Calvin, Bochart, and other learned critics. Our native Ash does not 

 occur in Palestine, though the Orniis europcea, or Manna Ash, is found there. 



The Ash does not grow to so large a size as some other of our forest 

 trees, but Dr. Plot mentions a tree which was eight feet in diameter ; and 

 Arthur Young tells of one in Ireland which had reached the height of nearly 

 eighty feet in thirty -five years. The great Ash at Woburn, which Mr. Strutt 

 has figured in his "Sylva Britannica," is larger and higher still. The height 

 of this noble tree is ninety feet ; at the ground it is twenty-three and a half 

 feet in circumference, twenty at one foot, and fifteen feet three inches at 

 three feet from the ground. The diameter of its extended boughs is one 

 hundred and thirteen feet, and it contains eight hundred and seventy-two 

 feet of timber. 



The Ash is indigenous to the greater part of Europe, the north of Africa, 

 and some parts of Asia. Professor Jameson, however, doubts if it is truly 

 a native of Scotland, because, if it had formed part of the ancient forests, 

 some traces of the tree would most likely be found in the peat-mosses ; yet 

 in these neither Ash-seeds nor beech-mast are discovered, though in many 

 peat-mosses hazel-nuts and fir-cones are to be found in abundance. The 

 French call the Ash Le Friine. It is the Esche of the Germans, the Frassino 

 of the Italians ; and both the German and English names are either from the 

 Celtic aesc, pike, or from the greyish tint of the bark of the tree. 



Order LIV. APOCYNEiE— PERIWINKLE TRIBE. 



Calyx deeply 4— 5-clef t, not falling off ; corolla regular, 5-lobed, the lobes 

 twisted when in bvid ; stamens 4 — 5, inserted in the tube of the corolla ; 

 anthers 2-celled ; pollen large ; ovary 2-celled, or double ; styles 2 — 1 ; 

 stigma 1, contracted in the middle ; fruit various. The order consists of 

 trees, shrubs, or herbaceous plants, with handsome flowers, remarkable for 

 the twisted form of the corolla while in bud, whence Linnseus termed the 

 order Conforlce ; and also for the beautiful column-like pistil. Several of 

 them have milky juices of an acrid and caustic property ; and some of the 

 most powerful poisons, as the celebrated Tanghin poison of Madagascar, are 

 produced by this order. The Oleander, so beautiful an ornament to our 

 conservatories, has acrid and poisonous leaves and roots ; and meat roasted 

 on spits made of its boughs has proved fatal to those who ate it. 



Periwinkle (Vfnca). — Corolla salver-shaped, with 5 angles at the mouth 

 of the tube, 5-lobed, the lobes oblique ; fruit consisting of 2 erect horn-like 

 capsules which do not burst. Name, from the Latin vincio, to bind. 



Periwinkle {Vinca). 



1. Lesser Periwinkle {V. minor). — Stem trailing, sending up short, 

 erect, leafy shoots which chiefly bear the flowers; leaves oblong, their 

 margins not fringed ; perennial. Of the two species of Periwinkle found in 

 our woods, this only can be considered as truly wild ; and even in this case 



30—2 



