278 CHINESE ECONOMIC TKEES 



OLEACEAE 



Trees or shrubs. Leaves opposite, rarely alternate or whorled, 

 simple or pinnate, without stipules. Flowers perfect or dioecious or 

 polygamo-dioecious, regular, small; calyx 4 lobed (4-15) ; corolla 4 

 lobed (6-12), or rarely absent; stamens 2 (rarely 3-5) ; ovary superior, 

 2 celled; ovules 2. Fruit a drupe, berry, capsule, or samara. 



Twenty genera and more than 400 species in the temperate and 

 tropical regions. The Olive is the most important member of the family; 

 others of horticultural interest are Jasminum (Jasmine), Forsythia (Golden 

 Bell) and Syringa or Lilac. The following are the more important 

 arborescent genera. 



KEY TO GENERA 



I. Leaves pinnate; fruit a samara with a terminal wing. .Fraxinus. 

 II. Leaves simple; fruit fleshy, a drupe or berry-like. 



A. Fruit a 1-seeded drupe. 



1. Corolla deeply divided into 4 long linear lobes 



Chionanthus. 



2. Corolla tubular Osmanthus. 



B. Fruit berry-like, scarcely drupaceous, with 1-4 stones 



Ldgustrum, 



FRAXINUS 



Trees or shrubs. Terminal buds large, with 4 scales visible. Leaves 

 deciduous, opposite, odd pinnate or rarely reduced to a single leaflet, 

 petiolate and without stipules. Flowers regular, dioecious or polygamous 

 or rarely perfect in terminal panicles on leafy shoots, or from axils of 

 new leaves, or from buds developed from the axils of leaves of the 

 previous year's growth, or from the base of young branchlets. Calyx 4 

 lobed or absent; corolla 4-6 parted or connate at the base, in pairs. 

 Stamens usually 2. Style 2 lobed. Ovary usually 2 celled ; ovules 1 in 

 each cell. Fruit a lanceolate or oblong-spatulate or flattened samara, 1 

 celled, 1 seeded. 



About 30 species in the temperate regions of the N. Hemisphere. 

 About 8 or 10 species in China. They are hardy as well as ornamental 

 and are eminently suited for planting as street trees on account of their 



