?24 



OLEACE.E 



C)Ru. XLX'IIJ. Oleace/V,.— The Olive Family 



Trees or shrubs, chitfly inhabiting the temperate regions of the 

 Northern Hemisphere. Their brai!/:/ies are opposite, and often 

 end m ccnspieuous l)uds ; the leaves, also opposite, are either 

 simple or pinnate, and exstipulate ; and the flowers areinpanicled 

 cymes. The calyx is either 4-cleft, inferior and persistent, or 

 absent ; the corolla either polysymmetric, hypogynous, of 4 united 

 or free petals, valvate in bud, or absent ; stamens 2 ; ovary 2- 



chapibered, with 2 — 3 ovules 

 in each chamber ; style i ; 

 fruit a samara, a capsule, or 

 berry-like, seldom perfecting 

 more than 2 seeds. By far 

 the most important plant in 

 the Ordur is the Olive (Olea 

 europthi), from which it takes 

 its name, one of the earliest 

 plants cultivated by man. Its 

 bark is bitter and astringent, 

 and its wood remarkably 

 close - grained, handsomely 

 mottled, and durable. The 

 fruit is fleshy and drupedike, 

 enclosing a hard stone, and 

 the oil is expressed from the 

 fleshy pericarp. The Lilac 

 (Syrhiga vulgaris) is a 

 favourite in our shrubberies. 

 Frdxinus Ornus, the Flower- 

 ing or Manna Ash of southern 

 Europe, also occasionally 

 grown, has white flowers, and 

 as maitita, which is sometimes 

 this tgenus is valued for its 



FR.\.\"INUS EXCEl.SInU {As/ll 



exudes a sug.UA' substance known 

 used in medicine. The wood of 

 strength and elasticity. 



1. Fraxinus. — Leave': mostly pinnate -.^lalyx and corolla absent ; 

 fruit a pendulous single samara. 



2. LiGLLSTRUM. — ifflwc^ simple ; calyx cup-shaped, 4-toothed ; 

 corolla funnel-shaped, 4-lobcd ; fruit a nuculane. 



1. Fk.axinus (Ash). --Trees with deciduous leaves, generally 

 pinnate ; [lolygamous flowers, with or without a 4-merous calyx 

 and cio'oUa : fruit a compressed samara, winged at tlie tip. (Name, 



