392 153. Ligustrum. 34. OLEIN^. PL ex. cor. 



Leaves nearly sessile, deep green, bald, deciduous, edge 

 not cut; Jiowers white. — Cultivated for hedges and screens, 

 as it bears cutting in any form ; leaves bitter and astringent ; 

 berries with alum dye wool and silk green, and a rose- 

 coloured paint is prepared from them. 



^. sempervirens. Leaves biennial, falling off in the spring. 



7. variegalum. Leaves variegated, green and straw 

 colour. 



Fam. XVIII. 35. FRAXINE^. Oleinarum pars. Link. 



Jasminearum pars, Jussieu. 

 Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual ; calyx 0, or free, 

 persisting, 1-leaved; corolla 0, or hypogynous, 1-petaled 

 and 4-cut, or 4 petaled ; petals joined in pairs by the fila- 

 ments ; aestivation rather valvular ; stamens 2, alternate 

 with the petals or lobes; anthers 2-celled; cells opening 

 lengthways; ovary 1, simple, not girt with a glandular disk, 

 2-celled ; ovules 2, pendulous, side by side in each cell ; 

 style 1 or ; stigma simple or 2-cut ; fruit a capsule or 

 samara, 1 -seeded by abortion; seed pendulous; spermoder- 

 mis simple ; perisperm fleshy ; corculum straight, central, 

 nearly as long as the perisperm ; cotyledons leafiike; radicle 

 above ; plumule inconspicuous. — Tree or shrub ; leaves op- 

 posite, simple or pinnate ; Jiowers racemose or panicled, 

 terminal or axillary ; peduncles opposite, 1-bracteated. 



154. FRAXINUS. Pliny. Ash, 



Floivers unisexual and hermaphrodite; calyx 0', corolla 0', 



stamens 2, rarely 3 or 4 ; anthers sessile ; ovary 2-celled ; 



ovules 4; samara 1-celled, 1 or 2-seeded; wings lanceolates 



Fraximis excelsior. Tall ash. 



Leajlels slightly petioled, lanceolate, pointed, serrate, 

 bald ; wedgesnape at bottom ; samara lanceolate, tips ob- 

 liquely nicked. 



Fraxinus, Rail Syn. 269, 1 ; Ger. em. 1472, 1. 

 Fraxinus vulgaris, Park. 1419. 

 Fraxinus excehior, Lin. S. P. 1509. 



Woods and hedges ; arborescent ; April and May. 



Bark grey ; buds black ; branches upright or ascending j 

 hermaphrodite, male, and female flowers on different trees 

 rarely on the same. — IVood an excellent timber, used also 

 for long handles or shafts; bark and wood diuretic and li- 

 thontriptic; samaras (called ask keys, birds tongue, kite keys, 



