214 STYHACACE^. [Styrox. 



in the bud. Ovary free, l-celled from the base at the time of flowering, with 

 near 20 ovules on an axile placenta, the upper ones ascending, the lower ones 

 pendulous. Fruit globular, obtuse, opening in 3 thick valves. — Cyrta suberi- 

 folia, Miers in Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 3, iii. 279. 



Rather common in the Happy Valley woods, Chawpion ; and at Little Hongkong, IFtl- 

 ford ; also Wright ; aud on the adjacent continent, but not known out of S. China. The 

 three groups proposed by Miers, under the names of Styrax, Cyrta, and Strigilia, although 

 they cannot perhaps be so strictly limited as laid down in the work above quoted, form very 

 good sections ; but it appears to me that Styrax, as a whole, is far too natural to be thus 

 broken up into distinct genera. The degree of adherence of the ovaiy, and of the persistence 

 of its dissepiments is variable in species otherwise closely aUied. 



Order LXIX. JASMINACE^. 



Calyx usually small, 4- or 5-lobed, or rarely 6- to 8-lobed, or toothed, or 

 almost entire. CoroUa 4- or 5-lobed, or rarely 6- to 8-lobed, with a long or 

 short tube, or sometimes divided to the base into 4 petals, or rarely 2-petaled 

 or entirely wanting. Stamens 2, adhering to the base of the coroUa, on op- 

 posite sides of the ovary, or hypogynous in apetalous flowers. Ovary 2-celled, 

 with 2, or rarely 1 or 3 ovules in each cell, ascending or pendulous, from the 

 inner angle. Fruit succulent or capsular, entire or 2-lobed, 2 -celled, or re- 

 duced to a single cell and seed. Seeds wuth or without albumen. Embrj^o 

 straight. — Trees or shrubs, very rarely herbs. Leaves opposite, or very rarely 

 alternate, entire or pinnate. FloAvers in axillary or terminal panicles, some- 

 times reduced to dense clusters. 



A small Order, dispersed over the greater part of the warmer or temperate regions of the 

 globe. The two Suborders are sometimes considered as distinct Orders. 



Suborder 1. Oleinese. — CoroUa ^-lobed or none. Ovules pendulous. Fruit entire. 

 Fruit .dry, narrow, ending in a narrow wing. Trees with pinnate leaves . 1. Fraxinus. 

 Fruit succulent. Leaves simple, entire. 



Fruit a drupe. Panicles or clusters axillary. Corolla-lobes imbricate . 2. Olea. 



Fruit a berry. Panicles terminal. CoroUa-lobes valvate 3. Ligustrum. 



Suborder 2. Jasxninese. — Corolla 5- or more lobed. Ovules ascendiny. Fruit (tvhen 

 •perfect) 2-lobed. (Leaves in the Hongkong species compound with 3 leaflets) 4. Jasminum. 



1. FRAXINUS, Linn. 



Flowers usually polygamous. Corolla either none, or of 2 or 4 petals, 

 scarcely cohering at the base. Stigma 2-lobed. Fruit dr^^, indehiscent, nar- 

 row, ending in an oblong or linear stiff wing. Seeds 1 or 2, pendulous, with 

 a thin fleshy albumen. — Trees. Leaves pinnate, the leaflets usually toothed. 

 Flowers in axillary or terminal panicles or racemes. 



A rather considerable genus, dispersed over the temperate regions of the northern hemi- 

 sphere, penetrating into the tropics only in moimtain districts. 



1. F. retusa. Champ, in Keio Journ. Bot. iv. 330. A glabrous tree. 

 Leaflets usually 5, from ovate to ovate-lanceolate or oblong, acuminate, 2 to 

 3 in. long, on petiolules of 3 to 6 lines, slightly seiTate, and much reticulated. 

 Panicles not so long as the leaves. Flowers numerous, white, on slender 

 pedicels 1 to l^ lines long. Calyx cup-shaped, truncate, or very shortly and 

 obtusely 4 -toothed, about ^ line long. Petals 4, riarrow-oblong, 1^ lines 



