472 APOCYNACE^. Fraxinus. 



to small subulate bracts ; the lower oblong or obovate and short-petioled : calyx- 

 lobes 5 or 6 (rarely with intermediate ones, making 8 to 10), about the length of 

 the tube of the almost rotate yellow corolla : divisions of the capsule globose. — 

 M. scabra, var. glahrescens, Gray in Watson, Cat. PI. Wheeler, 15. 



Southeastern borders of the State, Dr. Cooper, Dr. Palmer. Arizona, Dr. Palmer, Dr. Smart, 

 Lieut. JVheeler. Saltillo, Mexico, Gregg ; on whose specimens Dr. Engelmann indicated the 

 species. It probably passes into M. scabra. Gray, of Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado. Lobes 

 of the corolla 3 or 4 lines long, exceeding the tube. 



2. FRAXINUS, Tourn. Ash. 



Mowers polygamous or dicecious. Calyx small and 4-cleft, or merely toothed, or 

 obsolete. Petals of 4 or sometimes only 2 petals, either distinct or united at base. 

 Stamens 2, rarely 3 or 4, hypogynous : anthers proportionally large. Ovary 2-celled ; 

 a pair of anatropous ovules pendulous from near the summit of each cell. Fruit a 

 samara, winged from the summit, usually only 1 -celled and 1 -seeded. Embryo with 

 fiat cotyledons, in fleshy albumen. — Trees ; with tough and straight -grained wood, 

 petioled and pinnate opposite leaves, and numerous small flowers in crowded pani- 

 cles, developed with or before the leaves, from separate buds. 



A genus of about 20 species, of the northern temperate zone ; represented in California by two 

 species ; one of them of the Omus or petaliferous section. 



1. F. dipetala, Hook. & Am. Small tree, glabrous : leaflets 5 to 9, or rarely 

 3, oval or ublung, serrate, mostly petiolidate, when old rather coriaceous, an inch or 

 two long : jianicles effuse : calyx usually 4-toothed, sometimes almost entire : petals 

 only 2, obovate-oblong Avith a short claw, white, 2 lines long, equalling the linear 

 anthers : fruit narroAvly spatulate-oblong, mostly retuse, an inch long, and the base 

 merely sharp-edged ; or in one form almost obovate, wing-margined to the base and 

 much shorter. — Bot. Beechey, 362, t. 87 ; Torr. Bot. Mex. Bound. 167, var. (]) 

 trifoliolata. Chionanthus fraxinifolius, Kellogg, Proc. Cal. Acad. v. 18. 



Not uncommon through the western part of the State. 



2. F. Oregana, Xutt. A fine tree : leaves tomentose, or becoming naked when 

 old : leaflets 5 to 7, from oval to oblong-lanceolate, entire, sessile, 2 to 4 inches 

 long : male panicles dense, Avith oblong anthers ; fertile panicles ample : flowers all 

 with a minute calyx and no petals : fruit marginless at base, gradually margined 

 upwards and produced into an oblanceolate or spatulate retuse wing, the whole 1 to 

 H inches long. — X. Am. Sylv. iii. 59, t. 99. F. pubescens, var.. Hook. Fl. ii. 51. 

 F. grandifolia, Benth. Bot. Sulph. 33. 



In ravines and along streams, from the Sierra Nevada in Fresno Co., and from the vicinity of 

 San Francisco northward to Oregon, where it is common and foims a large timber-tree. In foliage 

 it resembles the Black Ash, but'the wood is light colored and much like that of the White Ash of 

 the Atlantic States, is used for the same purposes, and appears to be equally valuable. It is known 

 as Oregon Ash. 



Order LX. APOCYNACE^. 



Shrubs, trees, or (ours) herbs, with acrid milky juice, opposite entire leaves, 

 destitute of stipides, regular flowers with all the parts in five, except that there are 

 only 2 carpels, and these usually distinct as to the ovary, while the styles or stig- 

 mas are united : stamens borne on the corolla alternate with its lobes, which are 

 convolute and sometimes also twisted in the bud : the anthers- disposed to cohere 

 with the stigma : and the pollen of the ordinary powdery grains. Calyx free, or in 

 Apocynum adnate to the very base of the ovaries. Seeds anatropous or amphitropous. 



