XLVIII. OLEA‘CER. 627 
and paler beneath, reticulately veined. Petioles short and curved, and, as 
well as the branchlets, downy. Leaf buds glabrous. Flowers quadrifid, 
rarely quinquefid. Flowers pale yellow. (Don's Mill.) A low tree. United 
States. Height 20 ft. to 30 ft. in the neighbourhood of London. but much 
higher in the United States. Introd. in 1629. Flowers pale yellow ; July. 
Fruit yellow ; ripe about the time the tree drops its leaves in November. 
The persimon is readily distinguished from the European date plum, by 
its leaves being nearly of the same shade of green on both surfaces; while 
those of the latter are of a dark purplish green above, and much paler, and 
furnished with somewhat of a pinkish down, beneath. The leaves of the per- 
simon vary from 4in. to 6in. in length ; and, when they drop off in the 
autumn, they are often variegated with black spots. It is rather more tender 
than the preceding species ; and, to thrive, requires a peaty or soft soil, kept 
somewhat moist. 
£3. D.(v.) pupe’scens Pursh. The downy-leaved Virginian 
Date Plum. 
Identification. Pursb Fl. Amer. Sept., 1. p. 265.; Don’s Mill., 4. p. 38. 
Synonyme. D. virginiana var. Miche. Arb. For. 
Engraving. Our fig. 1216., from a specimen in Dr. Lindley’s herbarium. 
Spec. Char., §c. Leaves oblong, acute, downy beneath. 
Petioles long. Fruit few-seeded. (Don’s Mill.) A low 
tree. Virginia, Carolina, and Georgia. Height 20 ft. to 
30 ft. Introduced in 1812. Flowers pale yellow; July. 
Horticultural Society’s Garden. 
Other Kinds of hardy Diospyros.—There are several names \ 
in the catalogues of American nurserymen, and in 1836 
there were plants corresponding to these names in the 
Hort. Soc. Garden. These we have examined, and we are 
perfectly satisfied that they are only slight variations of D. 
virginiana, and, in short, that this is the only North American 
species. D. lucida, D. intermédia, D. digyna, and D. yo16, . (v.) pubéscens 
stricta are included in the above remarks. 
Orper XLVIII. OLEA'CEZAL. 
Orb. CHAR. Flowers hermaphrodite, sometimes diccious. Calyx divided, 
permanent. Corolla 4-cleft; sometimes 4-petaled. Petals connected by 
pairs, rather valvate in estivation ; sometimes wanting. Stamens 2, alter- 
nating with the segments or petals. Anthers 2-celled ; cells dehiscing length- 
wise. Ovarium simple, guarded by no glandular disk, 2-celled ; cells 2-seeded, 
Ovules pendulous, collateral. Style simple or wanting. Stigma bifid or 
undivided. Fruit drupaceous, baccate or capsular, often 1-seeded by abor- 
tion. Seeds with dense copious albumen. Embryo middle-sized, longitudi- 
nal, straight. Cofyledons foliaceous, half free. adicle superior. Plumule 
inconspicuous.—Trees and shrubs, natives of both hemispheres, and for the 
most part deciduous. (Don’s Mill.) : ; 
Leaves simple or compound, opposite, exstipulate, deciduous or evergreen ; 
entire or serrated. Flowers racemose or panicled, terminal or axillary, with 
opposite unibracteate pedicels. 
The Syringa supplies some of our most beautiful deciduous shrubs, and the 
Ligistrum and Phillfrea some useful evergreens. Some of these, as Fraxi- 
nus, are timber trees. All the species are remarkable for the production of 
numerous white fibrous roots, in dense masses, near the surface: of the 
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