616 



OLEACE^E. 



[Perigynous Exogens. 



Order CCXXXVII. OLEACE^l.— Oliveworts. 



Oletaea?, Hoffmannsegg et Link Fl. Port. (1806); Brown Prodr. 522.— Lilacese, Vent. Tabl. 1. 306. 

 (1799).— Fraxineae, Martins Conspectus, No. 209. (1835).— Oleaceae, Ed. pr. ccxxvi. (1836); Endl. 

 Gen. cxxx. ; DC. Prodr. 8. 273. 



Diagnosis. — Solanal Exogens, with 2 or 4 free stamens. 



Trees or shrubs. Branches usually dichotomous and ending abruptly by a con- 

 spicuous bud. Leaves opposite, simple, sometimes pinnated. Flowers in terminal or 



axillary racemes or panicles ; the pedicels op- 

 posite, with single bracts. Flowers or £ £ . 

 Calyx divided, persistent, inferior. Corolla hypo- 

 gynous, monopetalous, 4-cleft, occasionally of 4 

 petals connected in pairs by the intervention of 

 the filaments, sometimes absent ; {estivation 

 somewhat valvate. Stamens 2 (in Tessarandra 

 4), alternate with the segments of the corolla, 

 or with the petals ; anthers 2-celled, opening 

 longitudinally. Ovary simple, without any hy- 

 pogynous disk, 2-celled ; the cells 2-seeded ; the 

 ovules pendulous and collateral ; style 1 or ; 

 stigma bifid or undivided. Fruit drupaceous, 

 berried, or capsular, often by abortion 1-seeded. 

 Seeds with dense, fleshy, abundant albumen ; 

 embryo about half its length, straight ; coty- 

 ledons foliaceous ; radicle superior ; plumule 

 inconspicuous. 



These plants resemble Jasmineworts in many 

 respects, and Endlicher even thinks them allied 

 to that Order alone ; indeed they are combined 

 by Ach. Richard. Reichenbach thinks Olive- 

 worts related to Storaxworts, because, according 

 to Hayne {Arzivjw. xi. 23. adn. ult.), a sort of 

 storax is yielded by Olea europsea. De Candolle 

 suggests (Essai Med. p. 204.) that the Ash is 

 related to the Maples, and this view is lately 

 adopted by Von Martius ; I also find in the same work the following very good observa- 

 tions upon this Order : — " However heterogeneous the Oliveworts may appear as at 

 present limited, it is remarkable that the species will all graft upon each other : a fact 

 which demonstrates the analogy of their juices and their fibres. Thus the Lilac will 

 graft upon the Ash, the Chionanthus, and the Fontanesia, and I have even succeeded in 

 making the Persian Lilac live ten years on Phillyrea latifolia. The Olive will take on 

 the Phillyrea, and even on the Ash : but we cannot graft the Jasmine on any plant of 

 the Olive tribe : a circumstance which confirms the propriety of separating these two 

 Orders." To me I confess that the unsymmetrical flowers of Jasmineworts offer a great 

 difficulty in the way of placing them in even the same Alliance as Oliveworts, the more 

 especially because that peculiarity is connected with a decidedly nucamentaceous fruit. 

 The two stamens usually present in Oliveworts may be taken to show that the flowers of 

 the Order are really^/, which is confirmed by Tessarandra, which has 4 stamens; the two 

 stamens of Jasmineworts are probably connected with a quinary type. The true 

 affinity seems to be with Nightshades, as is indicated by the dicarpellary fruit, 

 regular symmetrical monopetalous corolla, axile placenta, and undivided fruit of both 

 Orders. 



Natives chiefly of temperate latitudes, inclining towards the tropics, but scarcely 

 known beyond 65 p N. lat. The Ash is extremely abundant in North America ; the 

 Phillyreas and Syringas are all European or Eastern plants. A few are found in New 

 Holland and elsewhere within the tropics. One Ash is a native of Nipal. 



From the pericarp of Olea europtea, the common Olive, is obtained by pressure the 

 well-known substance called Olive Oil ; the medical properties of which are demulcent, 



Fig. CCCCXVI. 



Fig. CCCCXVI.— Noteloea ovata. 1. flower ; 2. trait.— Endlicher- 



