Fraxinns.] OLEACK^B. 257 



A large deciduous tree. Bark grey, corky, with longitudinal fur- 

 rows. Wood white, with a light red tinge, no heartwood, soft to moder- 

 ately hard. Annual rings marked by an almost continuous line of large 

 pores, the layers cutting differently under the knife. Pores in the outer 

 part of the annual ring smaller. The large pores of the annual rings are 

 well defined on a longitudinal section. Medullary rays fine, numerous, 

 giving the wood a mottled appearance on a radial section. 



Himalaya, from the Indus to Sikkim, between 5,000 and 8,500 feet. 

 Growth slow to moderately fast, averaging 13 rings per inch of radius for our speci- 

 mens ; Wallich says 8 rings ( Ttrandis] . Weight, 48 Ibs. per cubic foot. The wood is 

 tough and hard, and is used for oars, jampan poles, ploughs and other purposes. 



Ibs. 



H 612. Parbatti Valley, Kulu, 7,000 feet 47 



H 904. Upper Chenab, 8,000 feet 



H 2971. Kami Tal 49 



H 3190. Dungagalli, Hazara, 7,000 feet . . 



The structure is exceedingly similar to that of F. excelsior, the European Ash 

 (No. 2974), but that species has a distinct brown heartwood. 



5. OSMANTHUS, Lour. 



Contains 2 or 3 species. O. fragrans, Lour.; Gamble 54. (Olea fragrans, 

 Thunb. ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 105 ; Brandis 309.) Vern. Shilling, silang, Kumaun ; 

 Tungrung, Lepcha, is a small tree of the Himalaya from Kumaun to Bhutan, some- 

 times gregarious, but more often planted for the sake of its very sweet-scented flowers. 

 The wood is whitish, mottled with brown ; the flowers are used to keep insects away 

 from clothes in Kumaun, and in China to flavour tea. 



1. 0. nov. sp. Vern. Silingi, Nep, ; Chashing, Bhutia. 



A small tree, with grey bark, white twigs, and opposite coriaceous 

 leaves. Wood white, hard, close-grained, seasons well, mottled on ver- 

 tical sections. Pores very small and extremely small, arranged in wavy, 

 irregular, anastomosing oblique bands, which form a most elegant net- 

 work on a horizontal section. Medullary rays fine, uniform, equidistant, 

 numerous, traversed by parallel concentric lines of soft texture. 



Tonglo, Darjeeling, 10,000 feet. 



The structure of the flowers shews it to be a species of OsmantJius. The leaves are 

 opposite, small, about 1 inch long, serrated ; the flowers white, the berries purple, 

 resembling small plums, and the bark of the twigs yellowish white, with raised specks. 



Ibs. 



E 379. Tonglo, Darjeeling, 10,000 feet 53 



6. OLEA, Linn. 



Contains 6 to 8 species of Indian trees. 0. dioica, Roxb. Fl. Ind. i, 106 ; Beddome 

 cliii ; Kurz ii. 157 ; Gamble 54. Vern. Atta-jam, Beng. ; Kala Tciamoni, Nep. ; Timber 

 nyok, Lepcha ; Joli, Tarn. ; Parjamb, burra-nuge, mudla, Kan. ; Karambu, Mar., 

 is a tree of the forests of Northern and Eastern Bengal, Chittagong and South Kanara ; 

 giving, according to Beddome, a valuable stiong timber. O. dentata, Wall ; Kurz ii. 

 157, is an evergreen tree of the Burma forests. O. europoea, Linn., the Olive, has been 

 introduced on the Himalaya and the Nilgiris. 



Wood hard, with a distinct heartwood in a few species. Pores small, 

 numerous, subdivided or in short radial groups. Medullary rays uniform, 

 equidistant, fine or very fine. 



2 i 



