FRAN 



Ef)e Crea^urg ai Uotang. 



506 



small. Chiefly natives of North Africa and I 

 the south of Europe ; a few have been | 

 found in South Africa, South America, 

 the temperate parts of Asia, and Australia. | 

 They have scarcely any properties of im- 

 portance. The leaves of Beatsonia portu- 

 laccBfolia are used in St. Helena as a substi- 

 tute for tea. There are six genera, includ- 

 ing Frankenia, Beatsonia, and Hypericop- 

 sis, and upwards of thirty species. [J. H. B.] 



FRANKENIA. A genus of small heath- 

 like herbs or sub-shrubs giving name to 

 the order Frankeniacem, distinguished by 

 having the petals furnished with claws 

 which are equal in length to the tube of the 

 calyx, six stamens, a three-cleft stigma, 

 and a three-celled many-seeded capsule. 

 Frankenia is represented in Great Britain 

 by F. hevis, a procumbent plant, with nu- 

 merous narrow oblong leaves which grow 

 in tufts, and flowers rising from the forks 

 of the stems or from the axils of the upper 

 leaves. It grows in muddy marshes by the 

 seaside in many parts of Europe and the 

 Canary Islands ; in England chiefly on the 

 eastern coast. Other species come from 

 the shores of the Mediterranean, the Cape 

 of Good Hope, North America, and New 

 Holland. French, Franquenne. [C. A. J.] 



FRANKINCENSE. The odoriferous resin 

 called Olibanum obtained from Boswellia. 

 — , EUROPEAN. A resinous exudation of 

 the spruce fir. The name is also applied to 

 Pinus Tceda. 



FRANKLANDIA. Aproteaceous genus 

 containing only one species, F.fucifolia, 

 a small upright shrub, very remarkable 

 in its appearance, having scattered fili- 

 form dichotomous leaves, covered with 

 orange-coloured glands and warts. The 

 flowers have a salver-shaped calyx with a 

 straight slender cylindrical tube and four- 

 cleft deciduous limb ; four stamens in- 

 cluded within the tube of the calyx ; and a 

 filiform ovary, with spindle-shaped style, 

 and inversely conical stigma. The fruit is 

 a small nut with a single seed. It is a 

 native of South-west Australia. [R. H.] 



FRASERA. A North American genus 

 of the gentian family, consisting of bien- 

 nial herbs with axillary stalked flowers, 

 having a wheel-shaped four-cleft corolla, 

 whose segments have in the middle a glan- 

 dular depression, protected by a fringed 

 scale. F. carolinensis, or F. Walteri as it 

 is also called, is a curious little plant found 

 in the morasses of North America. It fur- 

 nishes a fine gentian-like bitter, and when 

 fresh is said to be emetic and cathartic. 

 The roots have been imported under the 

 name of American Calumba. [M. T. MJ 



FRAXINE.F. The ash tribe, a suborder 

 of Oleacece. It includes those genera 

 which have a winged fruit or samara, with 

 one or more seeds. Among these are com- 

 prised the common ash (Fraxinus), and the 

 manna ash (Ornus). [J. H. B.J 



FRAXINELLA. Dictamnus albus. 



FRAXINELLE. (Fr.) Dictamnus albus. 



FRAXINUS. The Ash, a familiar tree be- 

 longing to the Oleacece, well distinguished 

 by its fruit, which is dry and indehiscent, 

 two-celled, two-seeded, compressed, and 

 ending in a leaf-like expansion (samara). 

 F. excelsior is indigenous throughout the 

 greater part of Europe, the north of Africa, 

 and some parts of Asia. Not remark- 

 able for robustness, grandeur, or longevity, 

 it rests its claim to distinction among 

 European trees on qualities scarcely less 

 striking. In height, gracefulness of form, 

 and elegance of foliage, it has no supe- 

 riors, scarcely any competitor. ' Its bran- 

 ches at first keep close to the trunk, and 

 form acute angles with it; but as they 

 begin to lengthen,- they generally take an 

 easy sweep, and the looseness of the leaves 

 corresponding with the lightness of the 

 spray, the whole forms an elegant depend- 

 ing foliage.' (Gilpin.) The 'sweep' de- 

 scri bed by Gilpin is especially remarkable 

 in old trees, the lower pendent branches of 

 which are curved upwards at the extre- 

 mities in a way which quite typifies the 

 tree. In early spring the spray assumes a 

 characteristic appearance, occasioned by 

 the numerous clusters of flowers which 

 appear at the extremities of the branches, 

 at least a month before the leaves. These 

 flowers are minute and remarkably simple 

 in their structure, being destitute both of 

 calyx and corolla ; but, being exceedingly 

 numerous, and of a dark purple colour, 

 they are very conspicuous. They grow in 

 dense clusters on the extremiti.es of those 

 branches which were produced in the for- 

 mer year, and eventually become diffuse, 

 andare finally succeeded by bunches of pen- 

 dent seeds not inappropriately called keys. 

 The foliage of the ash is very late in making 

 its appearance, and it takes its departure 

 among the first, though the precise time at 

 which it sheds its leaves varies much in 

 different individuals. The leaves are com- 

 posed of about five pairs of acute notched 

 leaflets with a terminal odd one, which 

 last is occasionally abortive. A variety 

 named heterophylla has most of the leaves 

 simple. Another variety is well known as 

 the Weeping Ash, all the existing speci- 

 mens of which were originally deri ved from 

 a tree discovered about the middle of the 

 last century growing near Wimpole in 

 Cambridgeshire. 



As a timber tree the Ash is exceedingly 

 A^aluable, on account of its quick growth, 

 j and the toughness and elasticity of the 

 wood, in which latter quality it surpasses 

 every European tree. In its younger stages 

 I (when it is called Ground-Ash), it is used 

 for walking-sticks, hoops, and hop-poles. 

 | The matured timber is converted into 

 | ploughs, axle-trees, harrows, oars, carts, 

 : ladders, handles for tools and a variety of 

 : other implements ; and as fuel it is un- 

 rivalled. Several American species of ash 

 resemble the European ash in general ap- 

 | pearance and qualities. The Ash is the 

 badge of the clan Menzies. French, Frene ; 

 German, Esche. [C. A. J.] 



The Common Ash has perhaps a greater 

 number of superstitions connected with it 



