OLEACE.E. (OLITE FAMILY.) 357 



I. O. Americana, L. (Devil-wood.) Leaves oblong-lanceolate, 

 smooth and shining (3'- 6' long); fruit spherical. — Moist woods, coast of S. 

 Virginia, and southward. May. Tree 15° -20° high. 



3. CHIOWAKTHUS, L. Fringe-tree. 



Calyx 4-partcd, very small, persistent. Corolla of 4 long and linear petals, 

 which are barely united at the base. Stamens 2 (rarely 3 or 4), on the very 

 base of the corolla, very short. Stigma notched. Drupe fleshy, globular, be- 

 coming 1-cclled, 1-3 -seeded. — Low trees or shrubs, with deciduous and entire 

 petioled leaves, and delicate flowers in loose and drooping graceful panicles. 

 (Name from x"*"'' snow, and avSos, blossom, alluding to the light and snow- 

 white clusters of flowers.) 



I. C. Virg'imca, L. Leaves oval, oblong, or obovate-lanccolate, smooth- 

 ish or rather downy, veiny ; flowers on slender pedicels ; drupe purple, with a 

 bloom, ovoid (£' - §' long). — River-banks, S. Pennsylvania, Virginia, and south- 

 ward: very ornamental in cultivation. June. — Petals about 1' long, narrowly 

 linear, acute, rarely 5 - 6 in number. 



4. FRAXINUS, Toura. Ash. 



Flowers polygamous or (in our species) dioecious. Calyx small and 4-cleft, 

 toothed, or entire, or obsolete. Petals 4, slightly cohering in pairs at the base, 

 or only 2, oblong or linear, or altogether wanting in our species. Stamens 2, 

 sometimes 3 or 4 : anthers linear or oblong, large. Style single : stigma 2-cleft. 

 Fruit a 1 -2-cclled samara, or key-fruit flattened, winged at the apex, 1 -2-seeded. 

 Cotyledons elliptical : radicle slender. — Light timber-trees, with petioled pin- 

 nace leaves of 3 - 15 either toothed or entire leaflets ; the small flowers in crowd- 

 ed panicles or racemes from the axils of last year's leaves. (The classical Latin 

 name, thought to be derived from (ppd£iy, a separation, from the facility with 

 which the wood splits.) 



# Fruit winged from the apex only, barely margined or terete towards the base: calyx 

 minute, persistent : corolla none : leaflets stalked. 



1. F. Amei'icaglJB, L. (White Asn.) Branchlets and petioles glabrous; 

 leaflets 7-9, ovate- or lance-oblong, pointed, pale and cither smooth or pubes- 

 cent underneath, somewhat toothed or entire ; fruit terete and mar gvnless below, 

 above extended into a lanceolate, oblanceolate, or wedge-linear icing. (F. acuminata, 

 and F. juglandifolia, Lam. F. epiptera, Michx.) — Rich or moist woods; com- 

 mon. April, May. — A large forest tree, with gray furrowed bark, smooth 

 greenish-gray branchlets, and rusty-colored buds. (The figure of the fruit in 

 Michaux's Sylva is misplaced, it apparently having been interchanged with 

 that of the Green Ash.) 



2. F. pill>escens, Lam. (Red Ash.) Branchlets and petioles velvety- 

 pubescent ; leaflets 7-9, ovate or oblong-lanceolate, taper-pointed, almost entire, 

 pale or more or less pubescent beneath ; fruit acute at the base, flatfish and 2-edged, 

 the edges gradually dilated into the long (l£'-2') oblanceolate or linear-lanceolate 



