482 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



Olearia continued. 



to 5ft Tasmania. A very handsome shrob ; hardy if afforded 

 some protection in winter. SYN. Eurybia Gunniana. See 

 Fig. 726. (G. C. n. a., xvii. 733.) 



O. Haastll (Haast's). fl.-heads white, numerous, shortly pedi- 

 cellate, in lax or dense, sub-terminal, corymbose, hoary cymes ; 

 peduncles usually much longer than the leaves. August. 

 I. crowded, |in. to lin. long, elliptic or ovate-oblong, obtuse 

 or sub-acute, white beneath. Branches woody, thick, the 

 ultimate ones hoary. New Zealand. Hardy shrub. (B. M. 6592.) 



O. ramulosa (slightly-branched), f.-heads whitish, small, very 

 numerous, usually sessile, or terminating very short peduncles 

 or branchlets. Autumn. I. crowded, usually very small and 

 spreading, sometimes reflexed and clustered in the axils, one 

 to six lines long. h. 3ft. to 6ft. Australia. A much-branched 

 shrub. 



OLEASTER. See Elaeagnus. 



OLERACEOUS. Esculent ; suitable for culinary use. 



OLFERSIA. Included under Acrostichum (which 

 see). 



OLIBANUM-TREE. See Boswellia. 



OLIGOCARPHA. A synonym of Brachylsena 



(which see). 



OLIGOSCIAS. Included under Panax (which see). 

 OLIGOSMA. A synonym of Nothoscordum (which 



OLIVACEOUS. Greenish-brown. 



OLIVE. The original home of the Olive is, probably, 

 Asia Minor and Greece, but it is now abundantly natu- 

 ralised in many countries, notably in the Mediterranean 

 region. " The Olive is one of the most characteristic 

 and beautiful features of all Southern scenery. On the 

 slopes of the Northern Apennines, Olives are the usual 

 forest timber; the whole of the Val d'Arno is wooded 

 with them, every one of its gardens is filled with them, 

 and they grow, in orchard-like ranks, out of its fields of 

 maize, or corn, or vine, so that it is physically impos- 

 sible, in most parts of the neighbourhood of Florence, 

 Pistoja, Lucca, or Pisa, to choose any site of land- 

 scape which shall not owe its leading character to the 

 foliage of these trees. What the Elm and Oak are to 

 England, the Olive is to Italy And here I chal- 

 lenge the untravelled English reader to tell me what an 

 Olive-tree is like? I know he cannot answer my chal- 

 lenge Now, the main characteristics of an Olive, 



tree are these : It has sharp and slender leaves, of a 

 greyish-green, nearly grey on the tinder surface, and re- 

 sembling, but somewhat smaller than, those of our com- 

 mon Willow. Its fruit, when ripe, is black and lustrous ; 

 but, of course, so small that, unless in great quantity, 

 it is. not conspicuous on the tree. Its trunk and 

 branches are particularly fantastic in their twisting, show- 

 ing their fibres at every turn ; and the trunk is often 

 hollow, and even rent into many divisions, like separated 

 stems; but the extremities are exquisitely graceful, 

 especially in the setting-on of the leaves; and the 

 notable and characteristic effect of the tree in the dis- 

 tance is of a rounded and soft mass, or ball, of downy 

 foliage " (Buskin, " Stones of Venice"). 



The Olive has been cultivated from time immemorial 

 for the sake of the oil, obtained by pressure from the 

 pulp of its fruit. In some countries, this oil forms an 

 important article of food, besides being extensively used 

 in cooking other articles ; but in this country its principal 

 use is in salads, &c. Olives for pickling consist of the 

 unripe fruits deprived of a portion of their bitterness by 

 being soaked in water, to which lime and wood ashes 

 are sometimes added; they are then bottled in salt and 

 water, and flavoured with aromatics. Olive branches have 

 for ages been regarded as emblems of peace and plenty. 



A large number of varieties are cultivated, and these 

 are propagated by grafting on the Wild Olive stock. 

 See also Olea. 



OLIVE BARK TREE. See Terminalia Catappa. 

 OLIVERIANA. Included under Trichopilia 



(which see). 



OLIVE, WILD. See Elaeagnus and Olea europsea. 

 OLIVE-WOOD. See Elaeodendron. 

 OMALANTKUS. A synonym of Homalanthus 



(which see). 



OMENTARIA. A synonym of Tulbaghia (which see). 

 OMFHALANDRIA. A synonym of Omphalea 

 (which s-.e). 



OMPHALEA (from omphalos, the navel ; alluding to 

 the umbilicated anthers). SYNS. Duchola, Hebecocca, 

 Hecatea, Omplialandria, Bonnowia. OBD. Euphorbiaceee. 

 A genus comprising eight species of stove, climbing or 

 twining shrubs, rarely diffuse trees; one is a native of 

 Madagascar, and the rest are tropical American. Flowers 

 cymulose, monoecious, apetalons ; cymes composed wholly 

 of male flowers, or with one female in the centre, and dis- 

 posed in terminal panicles. Fruit thick, fleshy externally. 

 Leaves alternate, often large, entire, penniveined, and 

 often three to five-nerved at base ; petioles biglandulose 

 at apex. 0. triandra, the only species yet introduced, 

 thrives in a mixture of peat and loam. Propagated by 

 cuttings, inserted in sand, under a glass, in heat. 

 O. triandra (three-anthered). fl. with three anthers. //-. yellow, 

 globose, furrowed, liin. in diameter. I. oblong, oval, or cordate, 

 glabrous, h. 12ft. Jamaica, &c., 1763. Diffuse tree. A juice is 

 extracted from this species, which turns black in drying, and is 

 said to be used in making ink, or as glue ; the nuts, after the 

 poisonous embryo is extracted, are edible. (L. B. C. 519.) 

 OMPHALOBIUM. A synonym of Connarus (which 



OMPHALOCOCCA. A synonym of 2Egiphila 

 (which see). 



OMFHALODES (from omphalos, the navel, and 

 ^^dos, resemblance; referring to the shape of the seed). 

 SYN. Picotia. ORD. Boragineoe. A genus of very orna- 

 mental, hardy, annual or perennial herbs, distinguished 

 from allied genera in having the four nut-like seeds 

 furnished with an inflexed margin, which renders 

 them cup-shaped. There are about ten species, natives 

 of Europe, North Africa, Western and Central Asia, 



Fio. 727. UPPER PORTION OF PLANT OP OMPHALODKS VEBNA. 



and Japan. Flowers white or bluish, on slender pedi- 

 cels, rarely all axillary; racemes loose, ebracteate, 

 or with leafy bracts at base. Radical leaves long-stalked, 

 lanceolate, ovate, or cordate; stem ones few, - alternate. 

 The four species in our gardens are of easy culture in 

 any moderately good soil; they are very suitable for 

 naturalising in woods and shrubberies, where the head- 

 growth is not too dense. Propagated freely by divisions, 

 in the spring ; or by seeds, sown at the same season. 

 O. linifolla (Flax-leaved). Venus's Navelwort. ft. white, rarely 



with a tinge of blue, in bractless racemes. June to August. 



L, radical ones cuneiform ; stem ones linear-lanceolate, glabrous, 



