BROAD-LEAVED EVERGREENS 371 



OLEACE.E. OLIVE FAMILY 



OSMANTHUS, Lour. 



Evergreen shrubs or small trees; winter-buds small, with 2 outer scales: 

 leaves opposite, short-petioled, entire or toothed, exstipulate: flowers axillary 

 or terminal, in cymes or short panicles, perfect, polygamous, or dioecious, 

 rather small, white; calyx short, 4-toothed; corolla with short tube and 4 

 imbricate lobes; stamens 2, rarely 4; ovary 2-celled: fruit an ovoid drupe with 

 a one-seeded stone. (Name derived from Greek osme, odor, and anthos, 

 flower; in reference to the fragrant flowers.) — About 10 species in eastern and 

 southern Asia, in Polynesia and North America. 



O. Aquifolium, Sieb. {Olea Aquifolium, Sieb. & Zucc. Olea ilicifolia, 

 Hassk.). Shrub or small tree to 20 feet tall, glabrous: leaves short-petioled, 

 elliptic or ovate to ovate-oblong, 1-2 inches long, spiny-pointed and with 

 2-4 strong spiny teeth on each side, rarely entire, lustrous and dark green 

 above, light green beneath: flowers fragrant, scarcely }/g inch across, on 

 slender pedicels, in axillary clusters; segals entire; corolla divided nearly to 

 the base into reflexed lobes : fruit ovoid, J^-^ inch long, bluish-black. Flow- 

 ers in June and July. Japan. — Introduced in 1856 to Great Britain by 

 Thomas Lobb. Hardy as far north as southern New York and in sheltered 

 positions probably farther north. 



Several varieties are in cultivation; the most important are var. myrti- 

 folius, Nichols., with smaller, entire, acute or acuminate leaves, and var. 

 rotundifolius, Nichols., with broader often obovate leaves about 1 inch long 

 and entire or with few obtusish teeth; both are of lower and more compact 

 habit than the tj'pe. 



