862 THE JESSAirrifE family. 



our shrubberies and plantations, belong to the small Sti/rax family, which 

 is entirely exotic. It consists of trees and shrubs, with tlie calyx often 

 partially adherent to the ovary, the corolla monopetalous, and stamens, 

 although inserted on the corolla, usually more or less imited together. 



XL VIII. THE JESSAMINE FAMILY. JASMINACE^. 



Trees, sBnibs, or tall climbers, M-itb opposite (or in a very 

 few exotic species alternate) leaves, entire or pinnate, and 

 flowers usually in terminal panicles or clusters. Calyx and 

 corolla regular, each, of 4 or 5 didsions, or in a few species 

 entirely deficient. Stamens 2. Ovary and fruit 2-ceIled, each 

 cell containing 1 or 2 seeds. 



An Order widely spread over nearly the whole of the globe, readily 

 known by the two stamens inserted at the base of the corolla, without re- 

 ference to the number of its divisions. It is commonly divided into two : 

 — the Olive tribe, with the divisions of the corolla 4 or 2, and valvate in 

 the bud, which cpmprises the two British genera, as well as the Olive 

 (Olea) and the Lilac {Syringa), Filarea (Phillyred), Chionawthus, and 

 Forsythia of our shrubberies ; and the true Jessamine tribe, consisting of 

 Jessamine and some other small erotic genera, which have 5 or more divi- 

 sions to the corolla, overlapping each other and obliquely twisted in the 

 bud. The seeds also have usually a considerable albumen in the one tribe • 

 and httle or none in the other, but tliis difference is not constant. 



Trees, with pinnate leaves, and a dry, oblong, linear fruit 1. Ash. 



Shrubs, with simple leaves, and a berry • 2. Pkivet. 



I. ASH. FEAXINUS. 



Trees, with pinnat« leaves, and a dry finiit produced at the top into an 

 oblong, rather firm wing, and divided at the base into two cells, each con- 

 taining a single seed. Calyx and coroUa either none, or in some exotic 

 species 4-lobed. 



A small genus, limited to the northern hemisphere, without the tropics. 



1. Conunon Ash. Fraxlnus excelsior, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 1692.) 



A tall, handsome tree, with opposite, deciduous, pinnate leaves, consisting 

 of from 7 to 11 ovate-lanceolate, toothed segments. The flowers open before 

 the leaves, and appear at first siglit like clusters of stamens issuing from 

 opposite buds along the last year's shoots, each cluster suiTOunded by a few 

 small, woolly scales. On examination it will he ibund to consist of a num- 

 ber of pedicels, arranged in a short raceme, each pedicel bearing a pair of 

 sessUe anthers, with an ovary in the middle, ending in a straight style with 

 a thickened stigma. The capsules, commonly called keys, are, including 

 the ^ving, about an inch and a half long. 



In woods, throughout temperate Europe and western Asia, extending 

 northwards into Scandinavia, but generally replaced in southern Europe by 

 a closely allied but perhaps distinct species. 



Common in Britain, and truly wild excepting in the northern parts of 



