JASMINACE^. 59 



have mentioned the Ash, and the following passages allude to the situations in which 

 it is said most to thrive : — 



" The Ash asks not a depth of fruitful mould, 

 But, like frugality, on little means 

 It thrives ; and high o'er creviced ruins spreads 

 Its ample shade, or on the naked rock 

 That nods in air with graceful limbs depends." 



In Dry den's Virgil we read — 



" Nature seems t'ordain 

 The rocky clift for the wild Ash's reign." 



As a timber-tree the Ash is very valuable. It is very elastic, so much so, that a joist 

 of this timber will bear more before it breaks than one of any other European tree. 

 It is very rapid in its growth, and the wood of young trees is more esteemed than that 

 of old ones. Since the use of iron so extensively in machinery, the Ash has been 

 somewhat superseded ; yet it still ranks next to the Oak, and for some purposes is 

 even superior. By the coachmaker, the wheelwright, and the agricultural instrument 

 maker, it is still much used. It is highly valued for kitchen tables, as it can be 

 scoured better than other wood, and does not run splinters into the fingers. For this 

 reason it was formerly much used in making staircases, and at Wroxton Abbey, near 

 Banbury, the seat of the Earl of Guildford, the staircase is formed of Ash wood. 

 Few trees become useful so soon as the Ash. Its young branches are valuable for 

 hoops, crates, handles for baskets, as rods for training plants, to form arches and 

 bowers, and also for walking-sticks. The tree is generally in the best condition for 

 felling between the ages of forty and sixty years ; for though it will grow considerably 

 after that age, its wood loses much of its value. A variety of the common Ash with 

 drooping branches is often seen in gardens and plantations ; it is only propagated by 

 grafting, the original tree being an accidental variety found in the wild state. 



GENUS IL—L IGUSTRUM. Tournef. 



Plowers perfect. Calyx deciduous, 4-tootlied. Corolla hypo- 

 gynous, deciduous, funnelshaped ; tube elongated ; limb 4-partite 

 with concave lobes. Stamens 2, inserted on the tube of the 

 corolla, included. Ovary 2-celled, with 2 ovules in each cell ; style 

 short ; stigma 2-cleft. Eruit a globose berry with 2 cells formed 

 of slender membrane, each cell 2-seeded, or by abortion 1-seeded. 

 Embryo in cartilaginous albumen with foliaceous cotyledons. 



Shrubs or small trees, with opposite shortly-stalked oblong- 

 elliptical entire leaves, which are evergreen or sub- evergreen. 

 Elowers white, in terminal panicles. 



The name of this genus of plants is derived from the Latin word ligo, I tie, in 

 allusion to' its flexible branches. 



