-2\'l. KKAXIMS VKLUTIXA LEATHER-LEAF ASH. 33 



["SES. One of the most valuable of the many Eucalyptus woods 

 for fuel, and in Australia, on account of its great durability and power 

 of resisting the attacks of destructive insects and Crustacea, is highly 

 prized for railroad ties, telegraph poles, posts, piles, paving blocks, 

 material for ship building, etc. It makes a handsome furniture, too, 

 and a ton of the dry wood has been found to yield 2^ Ibs. of pure 

 potash. Its flowers yield an abundance of honej. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES. The fresh bark contains from 7-8^ of 

 kino, and for therapeutic purposes that produced by this tree is 

 regarded as being among the most efficient of its kind. 



From the wood kino-tannin and kino-red are procured, the large 

 percentages of these two substances in this wood being, as far as 

 known, only rivaled by the Jarrah wood (Eucalyptus maryinata\ and 

 it is in the presence of these substances that we have a clue to the 

 extraordinary durability and power to withstand destruction by insects, 

 etc., of these two timbers.* 



ORDER OLEACEJE: OLIVE FAMILY. 



Leaves opposite and simple 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 alto- 

 gether} : stamens only 2 (or rarely 4) : ovary 2-celled with usually two suspended 

 ovules in each cell. Fruit fleshy or capsular, containing 4 (or fewer; seeds. 



Represented by trees and shrubs. 



GENUS FRAXIXUS, TOURNEFORT. 



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 

 representatives 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. 



' Fra.rinus is the ancient Latin name of the ash ; supposed to be from the Greek 

 <|>pd|is, a separation, alluding to the facility with which the wood splits. 



212. FRAXINUS VELUTINA, TORR. 

 LEATHER-LEAF ASH. 



(TLT., Lederbldttrige Esche ; Fr., Frene a feuilles de cuir ; Sp., 

 Fresno de hojas de cuero. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER : Leaves very variable, from 3-6 or 8 in. in length and 

 with 3-9 leaflets which vary from lanceolate to oval, 2-4 in. long, with petiolule 

 to nearly sessile, long, taper-pointed, generally acuminate though sometimes 

 rounded at apex, wedge-shaped to unequally rounded at base, entire or remotely 

 serrate above the middle, glabrous or variously tomentose especially beneath, 

 thick coriaceous (especially with trees growing on dry mesas) dark green above, 



* Baron Ferd. Vou Mueller, Ewalyptoqraphia. 



