TAXONOMY 381 



Styracea or Benzoin Family. Shrubs or low trees. Leaves alter- 

 nate to opposite, entire, often- acuminate. Flowers hermaphrodite, 

 regular, rarely sub-irregular, either in condensed fascicles or solitary 

 in the axils of the leaves; sepals and petals typically five each; 

 corolla often white, rarely pinkish or yellowish; stamens many to 

 four to two, perigynous or sub-hypogynous ; pistil bicarpellary or 

 four to five carpellate. Fruit either fleshy or dry, often winged and 

 rarely as many-celled as there are carpels. 



Official drug Part used Botanical origin Habitat 



,, , / Styrax Benzoin East Indies and 



Benzomum Balsamic resin < . 



( and other species biam 



III. Order Contortse (Gentianales). Oleacece or Olive Family. 

 Shrubs (Forsythia, Chionanthus, Syringa, etc.) or trees (Fraxinus, 

 Olea, etc.) with stems possessing close white wood, and slightly 

 swollen or enlarged nodes. Leaves opposite, decussate, simple, 

 rarely pinnately compound (Ash). Inflorescence dichesial of scor- 

 pioid cymes but tending constantly toward condensation and so in 

 the Lilac, the inflorescence becomes a clustered raceme of cymes 

 (thyrsus). Flowers regular, pentamerous or tetramerous; sepals 

 small, green, rarely petaloid, synsepalo.us; petals synpetalous, elong- 

 ated into a narrow tube, expanding above into a stellate limb; 

 stamens very rarely five, rarely four to three, nearly always two, 

 epipetalous and high set on corolla tube; pistil bicarpellate, rarely 

 of three to four 'carpels; ovary two-celled with two to one pendulous 

 ovules in each cavity. Fruit either a capsule (Lilac), drupe (Olive), 

 berry (Privet) or a winged indehiscent akene (Ash). Seeds with 

 moderate to scanty albumen becoming occasionally exalbuminous. 



Official drug Part used Botanical origin Habitat 



Manna Dried saccharine Fraxinus Ornus Southern Europe 



exudate 



Oleum Olivse Fixed oil Olea Europsea Southern Europe, 



Algeria, Asia 



Chionanthus N.F. Bark of root Chinoanthus Southern United 



virginica States 



Fraxinus N.F. Bark Fraxinus AmericanaNorthern United 



States and 

 Canada 



