OLEA 661 



inch of radius, representing a mean annual girth increment of 1-26 in. The 

 wood is of good quality, but is apparently not used. FI. January to March ; 

 fr. April to June, S. India (Bourdillon). 



4. Olea europaea, Linn. European olive^ common olive. 



A tree closely allied to O. cuspidata, but the leaves are grey above and 

 white beneath, the inflorescence is denser, the fruit larger, and the branchlets 

 in the ungrafted plant are spinescent. The olive is indigenous in Syria and 

 is largely cultivated in the Mediterranean region and in certain valleys in the 

 Alps. According to Professor Raoul Blanchard ^ the distribution of the olive 

 in the French Alj)s depends little on soil, latitude, or altitude, the deciding 

 factor being exposure, for the tree must have shelter from north, north-west, 

 and north-east winds, and will not tolerate any wind-swept situation ; the 

 most favourable aspects in that region are southerly to easterly. 



The cultivation of the olive has been attempted from time to time in 

 India, and within recent years experimental cultivation has been carried on 

 with some success in the Punjab by grafting on stocks of 0. cuspidata. 

 Systematic experiments were started in 1910-11 at Sakesar in the Shahpur 

 district and Khairimurat in the Rawalpindi district, and some of the grafted 

 trees commenced bearing fruit after four years. Experiments have also been 

 carried out in Kashmir and in Baluchistan. In 1910 about 200 olive plants 

 obtained from southern France were planted in Baluchistan, and these fruited 

 in 1916. Budding was carried out on stocks of wild olive {O. cuspidata), the 

 latter being cut down to produce coppice-shoots, which were large enough for 

 budding when three years old. It was fomid that the best time to bud is 

 about September. 



3. NYCTANTHES, Linn. 



Nyctauthes Arbor-tristis, Linn. Vern. Har, harsingar, karasli, siharu, 

 Hind. ; Harsing, Kan. ; Parijtak, Mar. ; Krishti, Tel. ; Seikpalu, Burm. 



A large shrub or small tree with drooping quadrangular branches and 

 scabrous leaves. Bark grey or greenish white, rough. Common in the sub- 

 Himalayan tract, in the Siwalik hills and outer Himalaya up to 5,000 ft., 

 from the Chenab to Nepal, Chota Nagpur, Central India, Central Provinces, 

 southward to the Godavari, Burma (rare). Often cultivated for its fragrant 

 flowers. Within its region this tree, often nothing more than a shrub, is 

 important from its capacity for clothing dry steep hill-sides and rocky ground, 

 where it is often gregarious, forming almost the only vegetation and serving 

 to fix unstable or denuded slopes, where it spreads quickly. It sends out long 

 stout lateral roots from which are produced bushy suckers in abundance : it 

 also reproduces readily from seed. It stands a moderate amount of shade, 

 and is often found as an undergro^vth in dry deciduous forests. It is not 

 readily browsed, even by goats, and thus succeeds in estabUshing itself even 

 where there is grazing. It coppices readily, and gives good fuel. It is leafless 

 in April-May. The fragrant flowers, with orange-red corolla-tubes and white 

 spreading lobes, appear from August to October, and the capsules ripen from 

 November to February. 



1 La Geographie, October and November 1910. 



