809 



Ef)C Erfagurg cf 33otanj». 



[OLEA 



! slender twisted roots, commonly known as 

 j Chay-root, yield a red dye, and are largely 

 employed by the dyers of Southern India, 

 the plant heing there extensively culti- 

 vated. Several shades varying from pale 

 to very deep red are dyed with them, or by 

 combination with other dyestuffs a fine 

 chocolate is produced, while with an iron 

 mordant they give a deep black. The cele- 

 brated red turbans of Madura are dyed 

 with chayroot, as also are the chocolate-and- 

 red handkerchiefs known as pulicats or 

 bandanas, which are exported to the West 

 Indies and slave States of America for the 

 use of the negroes. [A. SJ 



OLDFIELDIA. During the past half- 

 century several kinds of hard timber have 

 been brought into use by shipbuilders, 

 and among these not the least important 

 is that known as African Oak or African 

 Teak, which however, botanically speak- 

 ing, is neither an oak nor a teak ; but, ac- 

 cording to the most reliable information, 

 is tbe produce of a large tree belonging to 

 the Euphorbiacece to which the name of 

 Oldfieldia africana has been given. All that 

 is at present known of this tree is its leaves 

 and its fruit. The former are digitate, 

 having from Ave to nine short-stalked leaf- 

 lets radiating from a common leafstalk ; 

 and the latter a roundish three-furrowed 

 three-celled capsule nearly one inch in dia- 

 meter, splitting through the middle of the 

 cells into three valves bearing the partition 

 in their centre but having no external mark 

 indicating its position, each cell containing 

 one or two seeds hanging from the central 

 column. Though nearly one-third stronger 

 than either English oak or Malabar teak, 

 African Oak or Teak is not so generally use- 

 ful as those woods, its ponderous weight de- 

 tracting greatly from its value and render- 

 ing it unsuitable as an exclusive material 

 for shipbuilding, the vessels built entirely 

 of it being too heavy. It is, however, very 

 useful in certain parts, such as for beams, 

 keelsons, waterways, shelf-pieces, &c, and 

 particularly in steamboats, as it will stand 

 a great degree of heat in the wake of fires, 

 where there is a free current of air, but 

 when in confined situations it decays ra- 

 pidly. The sapwood, like that of other 

 timbers, is also very subject to decay ; and 

 even the solid heartwood does not escape 

 the attacks of large larvse, or from being 

 perforated by tered03. [A. S.] 



OLD-MAID. A "West Indian name for 

 Vinca rosea. 



OLD-MAN. A name given by rustics to 

 the Southernwood, Artemisia Abrotanum. 



OLD-MAN'S BEARD. Clematis Yitalba; 

 also Geropogan, and Tillandsia nsnemdes. 



OLD-MAX'S EYEBROW. Droserabmata. 



OLD-MAX'S HEAD. Pilocereus senilis. 



OLD SOW. Melilotus cceruleus, or Trigo- 

 nella ccerv.lea, which gives its peculiar fla- 

 vour to chapziger cheese. 



OLD"W OMAN'S BITTER. Picramnia An- 

 tidesma; also Citharexylum anereum. 



OLD-WOMAN'S TREE. Quiina jamau 

 censis. 



OLEACE.3E. (Oleinew, Lilacea?,Fraxinea>, 

 Oliveworts.) A natural order of corollifloral 

 dicotyledons belonging to Lindley'ssolanal 

 alliance of perigynous Exogens, and con- 

 sisting of trees or shrubs, with opposite 

 simple or compound leaves, and herma- 

 phrodite or unisexual flowers. Calyx ga- 

 mosepalous, persistent ; corolla four-cleft, 

 sometimes of four petals connected in pairs 

 by means of the filaments, sometimes want- 

 ing; stamens free, two (rarely four), alter- 

 nate with the corolline segments : ovary 

 free, two-celled ; ovules in pairs, collateral 

 or pendulous. Fruit drupaceous, baccate 

 or capsular, sometimes samaroid ; seeds 

 often by abortion solitary. The plants of 

 the order are hitter, tonic, and astringent, 

 and some yield fixed oil. Olea europcea is 

 the olive-tree; and several species of Ornus, 

 more particularly O. rotundifolia and O. 

 europcea, yield manna. They are natives 

 chiefly of temperate regions, and occur in 

 North America, Asia, Europe, and New 

 Holland. There are upwards of a score of 

 genera, including Olea, Fraxinus, and Sy- 

 nnga; and nearly 150 species. [J. H. B.J 



OLEA. The order Oleacea takes its name 

 from this genus, of which, in addition to 

 the Common Olive, about thirty species 

 are known, mostly belonging to Asiatic 

 and African countries, but some few occur- 

 ring in Australia and New Zealand. Many 

 are trees varying from twenty to fifty feet 

 high, and producing hard useful timber, 

 while others are large shrubs. All have 



Olea europcea. 



entire leathery evergreen leaves, and 

 small whitish frequently fragrant flowers, 

 either in axillary racemes or clusters or in 

 axillary or terminal panicles. They have 

 a four-lohed calyx and corolla, the latter 

 wanting in the New Zealand species, two 

 stamens placed opposite each other with 

 their anthers projecting, and a two-celled 

 ovary with two pendulous ovules in each 

 cell. The fruit has an oily flesh and a bony 

 two-celled stone, one of the cells being 



