OLEAGEAE. 



315 



OSMANTHUS. Fragrant Olive. 

 (Family Oleaceae). 



Shrubs or small trees: ever- 

 green. Twigs moderately slender, 

 rounded or 4-lined from the 

 nodes: pith angular or roundish, 

 pale, continuous. Buds small, ses- 

 sile, sometimes superposed, with 

 a pair of valvate scales. Leaf- 

 scars opposite, broadly crescent- 

 shaped, somewhat raised: bundle- 

 trace 1, crescent-shaped: stipule- 

 scars lacking. Leaves simple, 

 coriaceous, sometimes pungently 

 toothed. 



Osmanthus Aquifolium bears 

 considerable resemblance to an 

 evergreen holly and is sometimes 

 cultivated as a holly; but it may 

 be recognized readily by its op- 

 posite leaves, those of Ilex being 

 alternate. 0. fragrans, like the 

 related jessamines, emits an in- 

 tense and penetrating fragrance which gives its common 

 name to the genus. 



1. Leaves small (5-7 cm.), typically toothed. 



(1). O. Aquifolium. 

 Leaves larger, subentire. 2. 



2. Leaves elliptical, somewhat denticulate. (2). O. fragrans. 

 Leaves oblanceolate, entire, revolute. (3). O. americanus. 



