26 HOUGH'S AMERICAN" WOODS. 



The seeds when dried, roasted and ground are used in some parts of 

 Georgia as a substitute for coffee.* 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES. The bark is said to have been used advan- 

 tageously in intermit tents, and in the form of a gargle in ulcerated sore 

 throat. The unripe fruit which is rich in tannin has been used in cases 

 of diarrhoea, chronic dysentery and uterine hemorrhage. It is given in 

 infusion, syrup and vinous tincture, prepared in the proportion of about 

 an ounce of the bruised fresh fruit to two fluidounces of the liquid, and 

 administered in the dose of a fluidrachm or more for infants and half 

 a fluidounce or more for adults.* 



ORDER OLEACEJE: OLIVE FAMILY. 



Leaves opposite and single or pinnately compound. Flowers monopetalous (rarely 

 apetalous or polypetalous); calyx 4-cleft, toothed or entire, or sometimes wanting; 

 corolla regular, 4-cleft (or sometimes 4-petalous, or even wanting altogether); sta- 

 mens only 2 (or rarely 4); ovary 2-celled with usually 2 suspended ovules in each 

 cell. Fruit fleshy or capsular, containing 4 (or fewer) seeds. 



Represented by trees and shrubs. 



GENUS FRAXINUS, TOURN. 



Leaves petioled, oddly-pinnate, with 3-15 toothed or entire leaflets. Flowers small, 

 racemed or panicled, from the axils of the last year's leaves, the American repre- 

 sentatives dioecious and apetalous; calyx and corolla, when present, as described for 

 the order; anthers large, linear or oblong; style single, stigma 2-cleft. Fruit a 

 1-2-celled, flattened samara, winged at the apex, 1-2 pendulous seeds in each cell. 



(The ancient Latin name of the Ash; supposed to be from the Greek 

 separation, alluding to the facility with which the wood splits.) 



62. FRAXINUS SAMBUCIFOLIA, LAM. 

 BLACK ASH, HOOP ASH. 



G-er., Schwarze Esclie; Fr., Frene noire; Sp., Fresno negro. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: Leaflets 7-11, oblong-lanceolate, 3-4 inches long, the lat- 

 eral sessile, taper-pointed, abrupt at base, serrate, smooth both sides, but tawny- 

 villous in the axils of the veins beneath, especially when young; buds short, dark 

 blue. Flowers (May) as described for the genus, "naked (no calyx) and with short 

 oblong anthers. Fruit a linear-elliptical samara, obtuse and alike at both ends, the 

 wing extending along the sides of the seed-bearing portion to the naked base, about 

 If in. long. 



(Sambucifolia is from L., sambucus, elder, and folium, leaf, alluding to the resem- 

 blance of the leaves of this ash to those of the elder.) 



A tree usually of slim habit of growth, sometimes attaining the height 

 of 80 ft (26 m.) or more, with a clear, straight trunk rarely more than 2 

 ft. (0.60 m.) in diameter, and with gray bark rather obscurely furrowed 

 by shallow ridges flaking off in thin scales. 



*IT. S. Dispensatory, l!th ed., pp. 1783-4. 



