194 TREATISE UPON THE 



less elongated, and the stamens are in greater number, and 

 smaller, and the pistil and receptacle to which the flow- 

 ers are attached appear different. We insist upon these 

 trifles, because we have indicated the ash tree as the ordi- 

 nary food for a kind of wild worms, and that if the kind of 

 which we have spoken, was very different from ours, the 

 worms would not be willing to feed on them. 



The fragrant ash, named in Chinese, kiang-tchun, is very 

 different from ours in many respects. In as much as the 

 leaves of the tcheou-tchun have a disagreeable odour, those 

 of the kiang-tchun have an aromatic and agreeable smell, 

 for those who love strong perfumes. Botanists, who have 

 joked on what Pliny says of that tree, ought to have ob- 

 served, that what is true of one kind is not always so of 

 another, and the same species, in its individuals, perhaps, 

 may be very unlike in different countries. The climate, 

 soil, exposure, year, and season, have warned naturalists for 

 a long time, that one fact concludes nothing against the 

 other. At the first view, the fragrant ash appears to be 

 exactly like ours ; it comes in the same places, grows to the 

 same height, the branches and stem are the same, its leaves 

 are ranged in the same way by pairs upon one side. But in 

 regarding it closely, it will be found that the leaves of 

 the fragrant tree are of a brighter green, more slender, and 

 are not terminated by a single leaf. The flowers and fruit 

 are entirely different. 



1st. The cluster of flowers is more like that of the grape, 

 and the flowers which are of different sizes, do not bloom 

 so much at a time, and last longer. 



2d. The flower is composed of a small calix of five 

 white petals ; of four stamens, which spring from a reddish 

 receptacle, or a small' round summit; of a pistil, that comes 

 out of the embryo fruit. i 



