OLE 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



6 L E 



impregnates cold water or spirits with a straw colour; to 

 boiling water it gives a brownish porter colour. The watery 

 infusions and spirituous tinctures are changed into a "bright 

 and deep red by alkaline substances ; and are rendered paler, 

 or nearly destroyed, by acids. The colouring powers of this 

 root are said to improve by keeping three or four years. 

 When the wild sort can be had in any quantity, it is esteemed 

 a third or fourth stronger, and yields a better colour ; and 

 when these roots can be had of two years' growth, they ai j 

 reckoned still better. This plant is the Tsheri Velio of the 

 Telingas; and the Say a Ver, or Imburel, of the Tamuls. 

 The Telinga physicians do not give any part of the plant a 

 place in their materia medica; but the Malabar physicians 

 say that the roots cure poisonous bites, colds, and cutaneous 

 disorders, and warm the constitution. This plant has been 

 introduced into the island of Jamaica; it is a native of the 

 East Indies, growing in very light, dry, sandy ground, near 

 the sea; flowering during the latter part of the wet season; 

 and ripening seeds in January. It is much cultivated on the 

 coast of Coromandel, where its roots descend to a great 

 depth in the sand. 



7. Oldenlandia Hirsuta; Hairy Oldenlnndia. Umbels 

 axillary ; stem and calices hispid ; leaves ovate, acute. This 

 is a diffused plant. Native of Java. 



8. Oldenlandia Corymbosa; Hyssop-leaved Oldenlandia. 

 Peduncles many-flowered; leaves linear-lanceolate. This is 

 a low annual plant, seldom above three or four inches high, 

 dividing into many branches, which spread near the ground. 

 Native of Jamaica. 



9. Oldenlandia Paniculata; Panicled Oldenlandia. Pe- 

 duncles panicled, terminating; leaves oval, lanceolate; stem 

 almost upright, even, dichotomous ; flowers purple. Native 

 of the East Indies. 



10. Oldenlandia Pentandra; Five-stummed Oldenlandia. 

 Flowers five-stamined, one-styled; leaves linear; peduncles 

 two-flowered. Native of the East Indies. 



11. Oldenlandia Digynia ; Two-styled Oldenlandia. Flow- 

 ers five-stamined, two-styled, sessile; leaves lanceolate. 

 Native of the East Indies. 



12. Oldenlandia Trinervia; Three-nerved Oldenlandia. 

 Stem decumbent; leaves ovate, three-nerved; flowers in 

 whorls, axillary; capsules hispid; root branched, slender. 

 Native of the East Indies. 



13. Oldenlandia Foetida; Stinking Oldenlandia. Umbel 

 terminating, trichotomous ; leaves spatulate. Native of Ton- 

 gataboo in the South Seas. 



14.- Oldenlandia Debilis; Weak Oldenlandia. Umbels 

 axillary, peduncled, few-flowered; leaves ovate, sessile. 

 Native of the island of Tongataboo. 



15. Oldenlandia Tenuifolia ; Fine-leaved Oldenlandia. 

 Peduncles axillary, solitary, one-flowered; leaves linear, sub- 

 ulate.-r-Native of the East Indies. 



16. Oldenlandia Zanguebarise ; African Oldenlandia. Pe- 

 duncles few-flowered; corollas salver-shaped; leaves linear; 

 stem herbaceous, manifold, eight inches high. Native of the 

 'eastern coast of Africa. 



Old Man's Beard. See hnardia. 



Olea; a genus of the class Diandria order Monogynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, tubu- 

 lar, small, deciduous; mouth four-toothed, erect. Corolla: 

 one-petalled, funnel-form; tube cylindrical, the length of the 

 calix; border four-parted, flat; segments subovate. Sta- 

 mina: filamenta two, opposite, awl-shaped, short; anthene 

 erect. Pistil: germen roundish; style simple, very short; 

 "'stigma bifid, thickish, with the clefts emarginate. Pericarp : 

 drupe subovate, smooth, one-celled. Seed: nut ovato-oblong, 



wrinkled ; according to Gaertner, subbilocular. Observe*, 

 The third species has male and female flowers on the sam<* 

 plant with the hermaphrodites; the nut obovate, substriated, 

 perforated at the base. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Caiixi 

 four-cleft, with subovate segments. Drupe: one-seeded. 

 The species are, 



1. Olea Europaea; European Olive. Leaves lanceolate, 

 quite entire; racemes axillary, contracted. There are many 

 varieties of this species: viz. 1. The common European 

 Olive: leaves lanceolate, flat, hoary underneath. 2. The 

 Warted Olive: leaves lanceolate, flat, villose underneath; 

 branches warted. 3. The Long-leaved European Olive: 

 leaves linear-lanceolate, flat, silvery uuderneath. 4. The 

 Broad-leaved European Olive: leaves oblong, flat, hoary 

 underneath, 5. The Iron-coloured European Olive: leaves 

 lanceolate, ferruginous underneath. 6. The Twisted-leave3 

 European Olive: leaves oblong, bent obliquely, pale under- 

 neath. 7. The Box-leaved European Olive: leaves oblong, 

 oval; branches spreading, divaricated. The Olive, in a.l 

 ages, has been held in peculiar estimation, as the bounteous 

 gift of heaven; and is still the pleasing emblem of peace and 

 plenty. It seldom becomes, a large tree; but two or three 

 stems frequently rise from the same root, from twenty to 

 thirty feet high, putting out branches almost their whole 

 length, covered with a grey bark. The leaves are stir!', 

 about two inches and a half long, and half an inch broad ia 

 the middle, gradually diminishing to both ends, of a lively 

 green on their upper side, and hoary on their under, standing 

 opposite. The flowers are produced in small axillary bunches ; 

 they are small, white, and have short tubes, spreading open 

 at top. Unripe olives pickled, especially the Provence and 

 Lucca sorts, are very grateful to many persons, who suppose 

 them to excite appetite and promote digestion. They are 

 prepared by repeatedly steeping them in water, to which 

 some add alkaline salt or quicklime, in order to shorten the 

 operation; after this they are washed, and preserved in a 

 pickle of common salt and water, to which an aromatic is 

 sometimes added. But the principal consumption of Olivs-s 

 is in the preparation of common salad oil. The best is of a 

 pale bright amber colour, bland to the taste, and without 

 any smell. It becomes rancid by age, especially if kept in 

 a warm place, and congeals by cold at 38 of Fahrenheit's 

 thermometer, and does not become rancid if kept in a degree 

 of cold equal to the freezing point of water. The Neapo- 

 litans extract the oil by crushing the fruit to a paste with a 

 perpendicular mill-stone, running round a trough. This 

 paste is put into flat round baskets, made of rushes, ptl<? ! 

 one upon another under the press. After the first pressure 

 scalding water is poured into each basket, its contents stirrf >. 

 up, and the operation repeated till no more oil can be skim- 

 med off the surface of the tubs beneath ; but by this method 

 the oil is seldom pure, does not^keep well, and soon grows 

 rancid. Another process is recommended, which is per- 

 formed by pounding the fruit in a mortar. A handful of the 

 crushed substance is thrown into a long woollen bag, which 

 is rubbed very hasd upon a sloping board, and then wrung-; 

 afterwards hot water is added, and it continues to be pressed 

 as long as a drop of oil can be extracted. This is supposed 

 to have been the original process; and when performed by 

 a stout and skilful workman, is thought much more effectual 

 than the common mode of proceeding. The ancients con- 

 sidered the Olive to be a maritime tree, and they supposed 

 it would not thrive at any distance from the sea; though by 

 experience we find it will succeed very well in any country 

 where the air is of a proper temperature; it will however 

 bear the spray of the sea better than most trees. With a 



