OLEIN^E ONAGRARIA. 



847 



always absent. The inflorescence is axillary, and the 

 flowers small, unsymmetrical and united, or, by abortion, 

 polygamous. The calyx (?) is small, entire, or slightly 

 toothed, and often becoming enlarged or fleshy. The 

 corolla of from four to six hypogynous petals, which 

 are separate or connected in pairs through the inter- 

 vention of the filaments. The stamens are definite, part 

 being sterile in the form of hair-like nectarines, oppo- 

 site or attached to the petals, and coherent with 

 them by the filaments. The germen is free, and one- 

 celled. Style filiform, and stigmas from three to four. 

 The fruit is sub-drupaceous, indehiscent, and often 

 invested by the persistent fleshy calyx or involucrum. 

 One-celled and one-seeded. 



Of the properties of these plants there is very little 

 known : some are esculent, and all, as far as expe- 

 rience goes, innocuous. Olax Zeylanica is used in 

 Ceylon as a pot-herb, and also as a salad : it is 

 there called mcela-hola, which signifies salad-tree, 

 whence its generic name, which is more probably a 

 corruption of kola than a misapplication of oAa|. 



The fruit of Ximenia Americana is eatable. It is 

 about the size of a pigeon's egg, of a yellow colour, and 

 has a sweetish subacid flavour. Heistem coccinea is the 

 " bois perdrix " of the French colonists in Martinique, 

 and it affords the partridge-wood of European cabinet- 

 makers. 



Decandolle, Lindley, and other botanists, are not 

 decided whether the genera associated under this 

 title really deserve to be made a separate order, as 

 all of them may be fairly referred to other and 

 well-established orders. They are all increased by 

 cuttina's. 



OLEIN^E, or OLEACE^E. A generally culti- 

 vated natural order of trees and shrubs, containing 

 eleven genera and one hundred and twenty-four 

 species. The genera are : Fraxinus, Ornus, Chio- 

 nanthus, Millingtonia, Linocicra, Fontanesia, Notekea, 

 O/ea, Phillyrea, Ligustncm, and Syringa. 



The Qleaceae have aqueous juices, erect or climb- 

 ing stems ; their leaves are opposite, petiolate, simple, 

 seldom ternate or pinnate, and destitute of stipules ; 

 the inflorescense is paniculate, and the flowers regular 

 and united, or sometimes, by abortion, polygamous ; 

 the calyx is free, disk absent, corolla hypogynous ; 

 the stamens, two in number, are hypogynous when 

 the corolla is absent, epipetalous when it is present, 

 being exserted from its tube, alternate with its lateral 

 lobes, or, when tetrapetalous, connecting the lateral 

 petals in pairs ; the filaments are free, anthers two- 

 celled, opening laterally by longitudinal clefts ; the 

 fruit is drupaceous, baccate, or capsular ; the seeds 

 erect or pendulous ; arid the albumen fleshy or 

 horny. 



Among the most important genera for ornament are 

 the lilac, phillyreas,and different varieties of ash ; and of 

 the most useful is the olive, the fruit of which abounds 

 in a bland fixed oil. This oil is expressed from the 

 fleshy pericarp, the olive being one of the several, 

 yet few, exceptions to the general rule of fixed oils, 

 being obtained from seeds alone. The olive grows 

 freely in the south of Europe ; and, although it does 

 occasionally bear fruit in this country, the crops 

 would be too scanty and uncertain to allow an exten- 

 sive cultivation. Our chief supplies of olive oil are 

 obtained from Italy, especially from Florence and 

 Lucca ; but that from Provence is of superior qua- 

 lity. In Spain and Italy this oil supersedes the use 

 of butter ; hence its consumption in those countries 



is far greater than amongst us, our annual imports 

 averaging only a little more than two million gallons. 

 Besides the oil, the unripe fruit of the olive is 

 pickled and eaten on the Continent to provoke an 

 appetite. Here olives are taken after dinner to 

 cleanse the mouth, so that the flavour of the wine 

 may be the more enjoyed. 



Ornus Europcea is the manna-ash. This and the 

 other species yield that peculiar saccharine cathartic 

 known in medicine under the name of manna ; chiefly 

 brought from Calabria, where the trees abound. 



The plants of this order are chiefly increased by 

 grafting or budding, and sometimes by layers and 

 cuttings. 



OLIVE WOOD is the Elteodendron orientalis of 

 Jacquin : East Indian and Australian trees and shrubs, 

 belonging to Celastrmeae. 



OMALIUM (Gravenhorst). A small genus of 

 rove beetles (Brachclytra), forming the type of the 

 sub-family Omalides (Omalidcs, MacLeay). See 

 BRACHELYTRA. 



OMASEUS (Zeigler). A genus of coleopterous 

 insects, belonging to the family Carabides, and sub- 

 family Harpalides, the true type of which is the Ca- 

 rabus melanarius, a very common English species, in 

 which the wings are rudimental, the thorax with the 

 hinder angles acute, margins incrassated, mandibles 

 striated, body oblong, depressed, and anterior tarsi 

 with three dilated joints in the males. There are 

 eight or ten British species, found chiefly under stones, 

 moss, &c. 



OMOPHRON (Latreille; SCOLYTUS, Fabricius). 

 A small but very interesting genus of coleopterous 

 insects belonging to the family Carabidce, but differing 

 from the majority of those insects in the form of the 

 body, which is nearly orbicular and convex above, the 

 thorax, very short, and the scutellum not visible. The 

 basal joint of the tarsi is alone dilated in the males. 

 The species are but few in number, and frequent the 

 margins of water in Europe, North America, Egypt, 

 and the Cape of Good Hope. In this respect, as 

 well as in the form of the body and of the larva, this 

 genus is regarded as the connecting link between 

 the hydradephagous and geodephagous predaceous 

 beetles. 



OMPHALEA (Linnasus). A genus of West 

 Indian trees, belonging to the natural order Euphor- 

 biacccs. Generic character : flowers in panicles and 

 monoecious ; calyx in four parts, divisions concave 

 and obtuse ; corolla none ; stamens, the filaments 

 dilated above ; anthers two-celled ; style thick; stigma 

 somewhat trilobed ; fruit of three berries ; seeds 

 hemispherical. This is a stove exotic, and thrives in 

 light soil, and may be increased by cuttings. 



OMPHALOIDES (Lehmann). A genus of 

 annual and perennial herbs, having pentandrious 

 flowers, and belonging to BorainctE. The Venus 

 navelwort is a common flower-border annual seen 

 in every garden. 



ON AGR ARI A. A natural order, containing four- 

 teen genera and one hundred and forty-six species, 

 already described and named. This, says Lindley, 

 is a well-defined order, generally known by its pollen 

 cohering, by a sort of filamentous substance, an in- 

 ferior polyspermous ovarium, a four-sepaled, four- 

 petaled flower, with a definite number of stamens 

 and a single style. They are all innocuous plants, 

 but more celebrated for the beauty of their flowers 

 than for their medical or economical importance. 



