Fraxinus. 



OLEACEyE. 



125 



Group 11. Ovary free ( superior), 2-celled, with 1-3 ovules in each ceil ; in fruit 

 1 — 2-seeded. Corolla regular, sometimes nearly polypetalous, occasionally 

 wanting. Stamens 2, fewer than the lobes of the corolla, inserted on its tube 

 or on the receptacle. — Shrubs or trees. 



Order LXXXI. OLEACEjE. Hoffmannsegge. The Olive Tribe. 



Calyx 4-lobed or 4-toothed, persistent, sometimes wanting. Corolla 4-cleft or 

 of four separate petals, deciduous ; the aestivation mostly valvate, sometimes 

 wanting. Stamens 2 (rarely 3 — 4) : anthers bursting longitudinally. Ovary 

 2-celled, with two pendulous collateral ovules in each cell : style single or 

 none : stigma either undivided or 2-cleft. Fruit by suppression usually one- 

 celled and 1 — 2-seeded. Seed, with copious dense albumen. Embryo straight : 

 cotyledons foliaceous. — Trees or shrubs, with opposite undivided or pinnated 

 leaves. 



I. FRAXINUS. Tourn.; Endl. gen. 3353; DC. prodr. 8. p. 274. ASH. 



[ Named from the Greek, pkraxis, a separation ; in allusion to the facility with which the wood splits.] 



Flowers polygamous or dioecious. Calyx small, 4-cleft or none. Petals 4, cohering in pairs 

 at the base, oblong or linear, often wanting. Stamens 2, sometimes 3-4. Style single, 

 erect : stigma 2-cleft. Fruit a samara, 2-celled, compressed, winged above, by abortion 

 one-seeded. Albumen fleshy, slender. Cotyledons elliptical: radicle linear. — Trees or 

 shrubs, with unequally pinnate leaves, and the flowers in racemes or panicles. 



1. Fraxinus Americana, Linn. (PL LXXXIX.) White Ash. 



Young branches smooth ; petioles and branches terete ; leaflets in 3 - 4 pairs, with partial 

 footstalks, elliptical or oblong-ovate, acuminate, serrate or nearly entire, glaucous underneath ; 

 samara linear -spatulate, obtuse, with a long narrow terete base. — Linn. sp. 2. p. 1051 ; 

 Willd. sp. 4. p. 1102 ; Michx. sylv. 2. p. 191. t. 118 ; Bigel. fl, Bost. p. 180 ; Beck, hot. 

 p. 232 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 8 ; Loud. arh. 2. p. 1232. t. 1055 ; Hook. ft. Bor.-Am. 2. 

 p. 51 ; DC. prodr. 8. p. 277. F. acuminata, Lam. diet. 2. p. 542 ; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 9. F. 

 discolor, Muhl. cat. p. 101. 



A tall tree (40 - 60 feet high and 1-2 feet in diameter ; but sometimes, according to the 

 younger Michaux, attaining a height of 80 feet and a diameter of 3 feet), with a light gray 

 bark, which is generally furrowed, with transverse cracks. The heart-wood of old trees is 

 reddish, and the sap white. Young branches marked with small whitish warts. Leaves at 



