606 



xcn. OLEACEJE. (C. B. Clarke.) 



[Fraccinut. 



SECT. II. Fraxinaster. Petals 0. 

 Pedicels in fruit racemed or subfascicled. 



Floivers polygamous or dioecious. 



3. P. excelsior, Linn. ; DC. Prodr. viii. 276; leaflets 2-5 pairs all sessile 

 or nearly so, calyx in all the flowers obsolete, pedicels in fruit racemed. Engl. 

 Bot. t. 1692 ; Lamk. Ill t. 858, fig. 1 ; Brand. For. Fl. 303 ; Boiss. Fl. Orient. 

 iv. 39. F. heterophylla, Vahl Enum. i. 53 (and several others). F. Moorcroft- 

 iana, Wall. Cat. 2834; DC. I.e. 275, not of Brandis. Ornus Moorcroftiana, 

 G. Don Gen. Syst. iv. 57. 



TEMPERATE WEST HIMALAYA and WESTERN TIBET, alt. 4-9000 ft. ; Ladak ; Moor- 

 croft ; Kashmir, frequent ; Jacquemont Jamu and Kishtwar, T. -Thomson. DISTRIB. 

 From the Caucasus westwards to Britain. 



A large tree. Leaflets 4 by If in., elliptic, acuminate, serrate sessile or very nearly 

 so, midrib beneath glabrous or minutely pubescent. Flowers in short racemes, fas- 

 cicled near the tips of the branches, appearing before the leaves ; male and herma- 

 phrodite alike without perianth. Filaments very short. Racemes in fruit 1-6 in., 

 pendulous ; pedicels |- in. ; samaras 1| by ^-^ in., narrowed gradually to both the 

 obtuse ends. In the absence of flowers Brandis hesitates about identifying this with 

 F. excelsior, but the tree is plentiful in Kashmir hills and exactly like the common 

 Ash. 



4. r. xanthoxyloides, Wall. Cat. 2833; leaflets 3-5 pairs lowest 

 petiolulate, calyx in the male flowers small in the hermaphrodite, pedicels in 

 fruit in very short racemes or subfascicled. DC. Prodr. viii. 275 ; Brand. For. 

 Fl. 304 ; Boiss. Fl. Orient, iv. 41. F. Moorcroftiana, Brand. For. Fl. 304, not 

 of Wall. Ornus xanthoxyloides, G. Don Gen. Syst. iv. 57. 



TEMPERATE HIMALAYA ; from Kashmir to Kumaon, alt. 3-9000 ft., abundant in 

 places (Brandis}. DISTRIB. Cabul and Beloochistan. 



A tree 25 ft., or more often a shrub. Leaflets 2 by f in., hardly acuminate, 

 crenulate^serrate, glabrous, or often slightly hairy near the base of the midrib be- 

 neath ; lowest petiolules usually ^ in., distinct, sometimes subobsolete. Flowers ap- 

 pearing before the leaves in dense heads, brown from the woolly bracts. Filaments 

 short ; anthers oblong. Racemes in fruit ^ in., or the pedicels |- in., appearing fas- 

 cicled. Calyx in fruit often ~ in., obtuse, "striated lengthwise or not. Fruit 1^ by 

 1 in. The Cabul examples of Griffith have the samara ^ (sometimes very nearly ^-) in. 

 broad. F. dimurpha, Coss & Dur., from Algiers, does not appear to differ except in 

 all the leaflets being sessile or very nearly so. 



6. OS1KANTHUS, Lour. 



Evergreen shrubs or trees, glabrous. Leaves opposite, entire or serrate. 

 Flowers axillary and terminal, fascicled or in very short racemes ; hermaphro- 

 dite or polygamous. Calyx 4-toothed or -lobed. Corolla-tube short or long ; 

 lobes 4, elliptic, obtuse, imbricated. Stamens 2, subsessile on the corolla-tube. 

 Ovary 2-celled ; style short or cylindric, 2-lobed or subentire ; ovules 2 in each 

 cell, pendulous from its apex. Drupe ovoid or globose ; -endocarp bony or crus- 

 taceous. Seeds pendulous, usually solitary, albumen fleshy ; radicle superior. 

 DISTRIB. Species 8, extending from the N.W. Himalaya through China and 

 Japan to Western N. America. 



The character of this genus is here considerably widened from that of Gen. PI. 

 (ii. 677) f to include 0. suavis, King. 



1. O. fragrans, Lour. Fl. Cochinch. \. 29; leaves lanceolate acuminate, 

 calyx minute, corolla less than in. tube very short. DC. Prodr. viii. 291. 

 Olea fragrans, Thurib. Fl. Jap. 18, t. 2 ; Roxb. Hort. Beng. 3, and Fl. Ind. ed. 



