OLEACE.E 421 



eastern Europe: flowers purple, lilac to white, in dense upright thyrses, very 

 fragrant: leaves heart-shaped, entire, smooth. 



S. persica, Linn. Persian lilac. Less bushy, and more slender than 

 the common lilac: leaves lance-ovate, the bases tapering: and pale lilac 

 or white flowers in loose clusters appearing later. 



3. CHIONANTHUS. Fringe-tree. 



Shrub or small tree with opposite, simple, entire, petioled leaves: flowers 

 in large loose axillary rather drooping panicles; calyx small, persistent; 

 corolla white, with 4 long, narrow petals, scarcely united at base; stamens 

 2-4, but scarcely adherent to corolla base: drupe usually 1-seeded. A hand- 

 some bush. 



C. virginica, Linn. Native to moist southern woods, but cultivated 

 for ornament: leaves oval to oblong, 3-5 in. long: panicles with some leafy 

 bracts; flowers conspicuous, in spring, appearing with leaves; petals 1 in. 

 long. 



4. LIGUSTRUM. Privet. Prim. 



Stiff shrubs or very small trees: leaves simple, entire, firm and thickish, 

 short-pet ioled, opposite: flowers small, white, in terminal thyrses or pan- 

 icles: calyx small, minutely toothed or truncate; corolla funnelform, 4-lobed, 

 spreading; stamens 2, inserted on corolla-tube; ovary 2-celled: fruit a 

 1-4-seeded, black berry. 



L. vulgare, Linn. Leaves thick, elliptic-lanceolate, abundant, persistent, 

 but deciduous: flowers M in. wide and white; calyx smooth: berries black. 

 Eastern Europe. Used mostly for hedges. 



5. FRAXINUS. Ash. Figs. 92, 141. 



Deciduous tree, some of them valuable for timber: leaves odd-pinnate, 

 petiolate: flowers small, insignificant, dioecious (polygamous in some species), 

 racemed or panicled — the American species apetalous, appearing before or 

 with the leaves; calyx 4-toothed, small, seldom wanting; stigma 2-cleft: 

 fruit a flat 1- (or 2-) celled key, winged. Several species are native in 

 North America. 



F. americana, Linn. White ash. Forest tree, 40-80 ft., with rough, 

 blackish bark, and gray, smooth branches: leaflets 5-9, ovate or lance-oblong 

 and acuminate, entire or sparingly serrate, pale or downy beneath, smooth 

 above, the lateral leaflets stalked: flowers mostly dioecious, apetalous; calyx 

 present in fertile flowers, and persistent: fruit with lanceolate wing at apex, 

 base nearly cylindrical, the key 1 J>-^— 2 in. long. 



F. pennsylvanica, Marsh. Red ash. A smaller tree than the white ash: 

 young shoots and leaf petioles and lower leaf surfaces velvety-pubescent: 

 calyx persistent on fertile flowers: fruit narrow, flattened at base, the edges 

 dilated into the oblanceolate wing. 



F. excelsior, Linn. European ash, often planted: leaflets 9-13, ovate- 

 lanceolate or oblong, acute, serrate: fruit oblong, often notched at end. 



