CHAP. LXXV. OLEACE*:. FONTANE SlA. 



GENUS V. 



1213 



FONTANE'S/^ Labill. THE FONTANESIA. Lin. Syst. Diandria Monogynia, 



Identification. Lahill. PI. Syr., dec. 1. p. 9. t. 1. ; Lam. 111., 1. t. 22. ; Lindl. Nat. Syst. Bot., ed. 2., 



p. ;>08. ; Don's Mill. 4. p. 51. 

 Derivation. Named after Rent Louiche Des Fontaines, author of Flora Atlantica, 2 vols. 4to, 



Paris, 1798-99, and several other works. 



Gen. Char. y $c. Calyx 4 6-parted, permanent. Corolla 4 6-parted, de- 

 ciduous. Stamens 2, elongated. Stigma bifid, hooked. Capsule a 'I 4- 

 \vinged, 2-celled, papery, indehiscent samara ; cells 1 -seeded. (Don's Mill., 

 iv. p. 51.) A subevergreen shrub, with lanceolate leaves, and axillary 

 racemes of yellowish white flowers. This genus seems to be a connecting 

 link between the tribes .Fraxinieae and Oleinae. 



t l. F. PHiLLYREoVDEs LobilL The Phillyrea-like Fontanesia. 



Idetification. Labill. Syr., dec. 1. p. 9. 1. 1. ; Don's Mill, 4. p. 51. ; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. 

 Engravings. Lodd. Bot. Cab., 1. 1308, ; and our fig. 1043. 



Description, $c. A shrub or low tree, growing to the height of from 10 ft. to 

 14 ft., or upwards, with leaves acute at both ends ; a native of Syria, between 

 Laodicea and Mount Cassius, and of Sicily. It was 

 introduced in 1787, and flowers in June. The flowers 

 are at first of a greenish white, or yellowish green ; 



but they afterwards become of a brownish yellow, and JF* ^^faffi 1043 

 remain on the tree two or three months. The leaves 

 of the plant, in Syria, and in the neighbourhood of 

 Alexandria, and also in Italy, remain on till spring; 

 but, in the neighbourhood of Paris and London, they 

 drop off in the course of the winter, like those of the 

 common privet ; to which plant the fontanesia bears a 

 close general resemblance, though it is strikingly dif- 

 ferent in having a rough exfoliating bark. It grows 

 rapidly, forming a large bush 10 ft. or 12ft. high in as 

 many years ; or, if trained to a single trunk, a very handsome tree, with 

 numerous slender, divergent, drooping branches. There are plants of it 

 in the Horticultural Society's Garden, and in the arboretum of Messrs. 

 Loddiges, 8 ft. or 10 ft. high, which flower freely every year; and one in the 

 Kew Garden, 8 ft. high. It is readily propagated by layers, by cuttings, or 

 by grafting on the common privet. Grafted standard high on the ash, it 

 would form a very handsome drooping-branched tree. Plants, in the London 

 nurseries, are Is. each. 



Fors$th\a Vahlis a genus named in honour of William Forsyth, Esq., Royal Gardener at Ken- 

 sington, author of Observations on the Diseases of Trees, &c., who died in 1804 ; and to whose son, of 

 the same name, who died in 1835 (See Card. Mag., vol. xi. p. 496.), we are much indebted for contri- 

 butions to the historical part of this work, and to that of the Encyclopedia of Gardening. 



F. suspensa Vahl, Syringasusptnsa Thunb., LUac perpense Lam., is a native of Japan, where it 

 is cultivated for the elegance of its flowers, which are yellow. It is an ascending shrub, with pendent 

 tetragonal branches, and oval, simple, or trifoliate leaves. It is probably half-hardy or quite hardy ; 

 and it is to be regretted that it is not yet introduced. 



Sect. III. 



GENUS VI. 



FRA'XINUS Tourn. THE ASH. Lin. Syst. Polygamia Dice'cia. 

 Identification. Tourn. Inst., 343.; Lin. Gen., No. 1160.; Michx. Gen., 107.; Juss. Gen., 105. 



