26 
55. OLEACEiE. 
dener, by whom they were called “ Oliveira,’’ to have been 
brought thither from “ near the sea to the E. of Funchal.” 
Thus I was led originally to suppose them to be mere depau- 
perated forms with imperfectly developed fr. of the common 
native Mad. Olive, 0. europcea L. var. /3, supra. They belong 
unquestionably, however, as referred by the late Chev. de 
Candolle to Phillyrea ; and as no such pi. has ever been 
found “ to the E. of Funchal ” or elsewhere in Mad. wild by 
myself or any other botanist, and as the similarity of these 
Mount garden pi. to 0. europcea /3, supra, growing plentifully 
on the sea-cliffs to the E. of Funchal, is quite sufficient to ac- 
count for the wrong Portuguese name and origin ascribed to 
them by the gardener, it may be almost certainly concluded 
that they have no legitimate claim to a place in the Mad. 
Flora, but were introduced with sundry other pi. and shr. in 
the same grounds from either Portugal or England, and are 
thus most probably merely a slightly aberrant form of P. an- 
gustifolia L. I will append however my original description 
from the living pi. 
“In Mr. Webster Gordon’s garden at the Mount, Apr. 23rd 1831. 
Several low thick bushes in full fl. Branches stiffer than in 
the ordinary state of 0. europcea L. wild in Mad. L. very dark 
gr. above, rather paler or brighter beneath but not in the least 
silvery-grey or hoary ! distinctly 3-nerved on both sides and 
veined or reticulate above, the edges usually entire, but occa- 
sionally with here and there a minute tooth or even sometimes 
regularly minutely toothed, narrow-lanceolate, very acute, di- 
stinctly petiolate, about 2 in. long and \ in. broad, hard coria- 
ceous and remarkably stiff and rigid.” (In a dried ex. now 
before me, they are sprinkled with a few remote large pores 
beneath, but are perfectly naked or without any silvery or 
branny scutate or umbilicato-peltate scales, being also exces- 
sively minutely, finely and closely shagreened or papilloso- 
pustulate on both sides.) “Fl. in very short close erect 
densely crowded many-fld. sessile axillary forked coarctate or 
congested tufts or cymes, usually 2 from each axil, 3 or 4 lines 
long or broad and not above ^ or ^ the length of the 1., slightly 
fragrant like Primroses, but less pleasantly. Branches of 
cymes and pedic. minutely furry-puberulous, sep. smoother or 
only minutely ciliate. Cor. distinctly 1-petalous, 4-fid, the 
lobes equal rounded pale yellowish gr. Anth. large. Stigma 
large emarginate at top, 2-lobed at base exactly as in 01 ca ex- 
celsa. Ait. Ov. 2-cellcd, each cell 2-seeded. — Drupes (Oct. 8th 
1831) now ripe, produced sparingly and singly hero and there 
amidst a profusion of clustered abortive withered or dried up 
fl. and pedic., very small, 2-5 mill, in diain., nearly spherical 
i. c. doprcsso-globose, apiculate by the short dried-up remains 
of the style, soft smooth or even, but through a lens finely 
granulated as if close-shaven, like shagreen, of a dark dull 
v.-blue liko a plum and appearing pruinose or covered with a 
bloom but which does not rub off.” — I have unfortunately 
