OLEACE. SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 63 
OSMANTHUS. 
FLoweErs polygamo-diecious or perfect; calyx 4-toothed or divided, the divisions 
imbricated in estivation ; corolla 4-lobed, the lobes imbricated in estivation; stamens 
2 or rarely 4, inserted on the tube of the corolla, introrse ; disk 0; ovary superior, 
2-celled; ovules 2 in each cell, suspended. Fruit a fleshy usually 1-seeded drupe. 
Leaves opposite, persistent, destitute of stipules. 
Osmanthus, Loureiro, Fl. Cochin. i. 28 (1790). — Bentham & Hooker, Gen. ii. 677. — Baillon, Hist. Pl. xi. 249. — 
Engler & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. iv. pt. ii. 9. 
Trees or shrubs, with watery colorless juices, terete or slightly angled branches, scaly buds, and 
fibrous roots. Leaves opposite, entire or dentate, persistent. Flowers fragrant, vernal or autumnal, in 
short axillary racemes, or in short axillary or rarely terminal fascicles. Pedicels short or elongated, 
subtended by scale-like bracts, ebracteolate. Calyx short, four-toothed or divided, persistent under the 
fruit. Corolla white, creamy white, or yellow, tubular, four-lobed, the lobes ovate, obtuse, spreading 
after anthesis. Stamens two, inserted on the base of the corolla opposite the lateral lobes of the calyx, 
or rarely four; filaments terete, short; anthers ovate or linear-oblong, muticous or apiculate by the 
prolongation of the connective, attached on the back below the middle, two-celled, the cells opening 
longitudinally by marginal slits; sometimes rudimentary or wanting in the pistillate flower. Ovary 
two-celled, subulate, rudimentary or wanting in the staminate flower; style columnar, short or elongated, 
crowned with an entire capitate stigma; ovules two in each cell, laterally attached near its apex, pen- 
dulous, anatropous; raphe ventral; micropyle superior. Fruit drupaceous, ovoid or globose, tipped 
with the remnants of the style, usually one-seeded ; exocarp thin and fleshy ; putamen thick, hard or 
bony. Seed pendulous, filling the cavity of the stone; testa thin. Embryo elongated, axile in thick 
fleshy albumen ; cotyledons flat, much longer than the short superior radicle turned toward the hilum. 
Ten species of Osmanthus are now distinguished ; they inhabit eastern North America, where one 
species occurs, the Sandwich Islands,’ Polynesia,’ Japan,’ China,* and the Himalayas.’ The type of the 
genus, Osmanthus fragrans,’ a native of China and the temperate Himalayas, is cultivated in China 
for its deliciously fragrant minute cream-colored or yellow flowers used by the Chinese to perfume tea’ 
and as a conserve,® and is everywhere a favorite garden plant. Osmanthus Aquifolium, a native of 
China and Japan, is often planted in its native countries, in temperate Europe, and in the southern 
United States, for its handsome Holly-like leaves and fragrant autumnal flowers. 
The genus is not known to possess economic properties. 
In the United States Osmanthus is not seriously injured by insects or fungal diseases. 
The generic name, from dcu7 and dro, relates to the fragrance of the flowers of the original 
species. 
Duhamel, v. 68, t. 24.—Siebold & Zuccarini, Abhand. Akad. 
Miinch. iv. pt. iii. 167. — Blume, Mus. Bot. Lugd. Bat. i. 316. — 
Brandis, Forest Fl. Brit. Ind. 309. 
7 Fortune, Three Years’ Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of 
China, 213. — Smith, Chinese Mat. Med. 161. 
8 Soubeiran & Thiersant, Jat. Med. Chin. 175. 
9 Bentham & Hooker, /.c. 677 (1876). — Gard. Chron. n. ser. vi. 
689, f. 132. — Forbes & Hemsley, /. c. 87. 
Ilex Aquifolium, Thunberg, 1. c. 79 (not Linnzus) (1784). — 
Blume, Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind. 1150. 
Olea ilicifolia, Hasskarl, Cat. Hort. Bogor. 118 (1844). 
Osmanthus ilicifolius, Gard. Chron. n. ser. vii. 239, f. 38 (1877). 
1 Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. v. 331 (Olea).— Hillebrand, F7. Haw. 
Is. 301 (Olea). 
2 Bentham & Hooker, Gen. ii. 677. 
8 Franchet & Savatier, Enum. Pl. Jap. i. 312 (Olea). 
¢ Bentham, Fl. Hongk. 215 (Olea). — Franchet, Bull. Soc. Linn. 
Paris, No. 77, 613. — Forbes & Hemsley, Jour. Linn. Soc. Xxvi. 
87. 
6 C. B. Clarke, Hooker f. Fl. Brit. Ind. iii. 606. 
6 Loureiro, Fl. Cochin. 29 (1790). — De Candolle, Prodr. viii. 
291. —C. B. Clarke, J. c. — Forbes & Hemsley, /. c. 88. 
Olea fragrans, Thunberg, Fl. Jap. 18, t. 2 (1784). — Bot. Mag. 
Xxxviii. t. 1552.— Loddiges, Bot. Cab. xviii. t. 1786. — Nouveau 
