614 



xcn. OLEACE^:. (C. B. Clarke.) 



[Ligustrum. 



9. Z.ZGVSTRU1KE, Linn. 



Shrubs or trees ; branchlets often lenticellate. Leaves opposite, entire, gla- 

 brous when mature, except in L. nepalense, var. vestita. Panicles terminal, 

 sometimes with foliaceous bracts in the lower part, flowers white or nearly so. 

 Calyx small, truncate or shortly 4-toothed. Corolla funuelshaped, tube long or 

 short; lobes 4, induplicate-valvate. Stamens 2, on the corolla-tube, filaments 

 short ; anthers oblong or rounded. Ovary 2-celled ; style longish, stigma sub- 

 clavate oblong hardly 2-fid. Drupe 1-3-seeded ; endocarp chartaceous or thin. 

 Albumen fleshy ; radicle superior. DISTEIB. Species 25, from Europe through- 

 out Asia to Australia. 



* Drupe longer than broad. 



1. Ii. rpbustum, Blume Mus. Eat. i. 313 ; branches very lenticellate, 

 leaves elliptic narrowed at both ends, nerves slender irregular, panicle large 

 hairy, corolla-tube as long as the calyx, drupe by \ in. Dene, in Nouv. Arch. 

 Mus. 2, ii. 29, not of Brand, or JBedd. L. pubescens, Wall. Cat. 2841 ; PL As. 

 Rar. iii. 44 ; DC. Prodr. viii. 294. L. punctatum, Griff. Notul. iv. 741. 

 Phillyrea robusta, Koxb. Hort. Seng. 3, and FL Ind. ed. Carey $ Wall. i. 101. 

 Olea robusta, Wall. Cat. 2822; Kurz For. Fl. ii. 158, and in Journ. As. Soc. 

 1877, pt. ii. 244. Visiania robusta, DC. L c. 289 ; Deless. Ic. Sel. v. t. 44. V. 

 sumatrana, Miq. FL Ind. Bat. ii. 549. 



EAST BENGAL PLAIN ; Silhet, Dacca, Chittagong, &c. ; abundant near the base of 

 the hills. PEGU; Kurz. DISTRIB. Birma, Malaya. 



A tree, attaining 60 ft. ; usually a large shrub. Leaves 3| by 1^ in., membranous ; 

 nerves somewhat distant, difficult to count from their irregularities and interposed 

 scarcely less distinct other nerves; petiole i in. Panicles often 12 by 10 in., pubes- 

 cent or almost villous ; bracts ; bracteoles ~ in., linear; pedicels (in flower) 0-|in., 

 the flowers all scattered not clustered. Corolla small, white. Style long, or (fide 

 Griffith) hardly any (is the species dimorphic ?). Drupe cylindric, often curved and 

 more or less glaucous. Many of the species that follow are difficult to separate from 

 this ; and, when it is said that this East Bengal plains plant is not L. robustum of 

 Brandis, all that is intended is that the long-fruited Silhet species (Roxburgh's type) 

 has not been sent from the North-west Himalaya. Dr. Brandis may very probably be 

 right in thinking plants he has seen there to be not specifically distinct. 



VAR. khasiana ; panicle smaller denser, pedicels in flower 0, drupe ^-^ by ^- in. 

 very glaucous. Ligustrum sp. n. 5, Herb. Ind. Or. H. f. $ T. Olea, n. 445, Griff. 

 Notul. iv. 29. Khasia, alt. 4000 ft. ; Griffith, H.f. $ T., &c. A stunted small tree, 

 perhaps a high-level form of the plains' L. robustum, but appears more distinct than 

 species admitted by authors. In Griffith's examples the fruiting panicle in L. robustiim 

 type is diffuse with scattered fruit, in var. khasiana it is close erect rigid with erect 

 fruits and 4-angled lenticellate branches ; the fruits are scarcely more than half the size 

 of those of L. robustum. But the series Ligustrum, n. 5, H. f. $. T., includes an 

 example gathered at Chela (alt. 1000 ft.) which is intermediate in character. 



2. Zi. Walkeri, Dene, in Nouv. Arch. Mus. 2, ii. 27 ; branches lenticel- 

 late, leaves elliptic acuminate, nerves slender irregular, panicle large compound 

 minutely pubescent, corolla-tube hardly as long as the calyx, drupe 5 by in. 

 L. ceylanicuni, Dene, in Nouv. Arch. Mus. 2, ii. 30. L. robustum, Thwaites 

 Enum. 188. 



CEYLON ; ascending to 5000 ft,, frequent ; Walker, Thwaites (n. 475, 494, &c.). 

 NILGHERBIES ; Herb. Ind. Or. H.f. #. T., n. 5, partly. 



Very near L. robustum, and perhaps only the Ceylon form of it as Thwaites con- 

 sidered ; the drupes, however, are very much shorter, broader, and somewhat obovoid, 

 the panicle is more obscurely pubescent, the leaves rather more coriaceous. Decaisne 



