OLA 
fuperintendant of Seville. He undertook the great work 
of fertilizing the Sierra Morena, or Black Mountain, a 
completely defert region. By his perfevennee, and with 
the aid of the colonies of Germans which he carried thi¬ 
ther, it aflumed a new face. Notwithftanding the benefits 
which he had thus rendered his country, he fell into dif- 
grace, and was fent to prifon, from whence he effected 
his efcape to Venice, where he died at the age of fixty- 
five. A work entitled El Evarigelio en Triumf, or The 
Triumph of the Gofpel, in 4 vols. 4to. is attributed to 
him. 
O'LAUS MAG'NUS. See Magnus, vol. xiv. 
O'LAX,/ [Gr. afurrow.] In botany, agenusoftheclafs 
triandria, order monogynia, natural order of fapotas, Jujf. 
Generic characters—Calyx : perianthium one-leafed, con¬ 
cave, very Ihort, quite entire, (trifid with blunt teeth, 
Gartner.) Corolla : one-petalled, funnel-form : border 
trifid, blunt; the third fegment deeper. Nectaries four, 
round, petioted, fhorter than the corolla, from ereCt-con- 
verging, in the throat of the corolla. Stamina: filaments 
three, awl-fhaped, alternate with the nectaries, and an- 
therse Ample. Piltillum : germ fuperior, roundifh : ftyle 
filiform, longer than the ftamens, caducous. Stigma ca¬ 
pitate. Pericarpium : berry fiefhy, three-celled, half co¬ 
vered with the permanent calyx and corolla. Seeds fix 
or eight in each cell, final], oblong, pale, with a nave 
in the middle of the inner fide.— EJJhitial Character. 
Calyx entire; corolla funnel-form, trifid; neCtaries 
four; berry three-celled, many-feeded. There are fix 
fpecies. 
1. Olax Zeylanica, or Ceylon olax : leaves ovate, point¬ 
ed, grooved. This, according to Linnaeus, is a tree, with 
flaccid branches, wrinkled like thofe of Vifcum, or mif- 
felto, alternate. Leaves ovate, finooth, veinlefs, alter¬ 
nate, quite entire, petioled ; peduncles very fhort, fome- 
what branched, from the axils of the leaves. Vahl ob- 
fierves, that the branches are angular with flexuofe decur¬ 
rent lines, finooth, covered with a yellowifh-green bark, 
very finely wrinkled acrofs. -Leaves two inches long, 
ovate-lanceolate, very finooth and even, with a groove 
or furrow, along the middle above, (whence the name 
oj\a.^,) very finely nerved, fcarcely veined, blunt. 
2. Olax fcandens, or climbing olax*: leaves elliptical, 
obtufe ; downy beneath; calyx minutely fringed. Na¬ 
tive of forefts on the coaft of Coromandel, flowering all 
the year round. Trunk inclining, often as thick as a 
man’s thigh. Branches long, climbing, or trailing, round 
and downy when young. Leaves about the fize of the 
laft, but elliptical, two-ranked, foft and downy beneath, 
becoming finooth by age. Flowers in fliort axillary cluf- 
ters, whitilh, fmall. Fruit yellow, pulpy, inverted with 
the enlarged, coloured, but fcarcely-pulpy, calyx. See 
the annexed Engraving. 
3. Olax pfittacorum : leaves elliptic-lanceolate, very 
finooth ; branches round. Gathered by Commerfon in 
the Ille of Bourbon, and by Koenig in Ceylon. A bufhy 
tree, with round, finooth, rather-zigzag, branches. Leaves 
on very fliort ftalks, finooth and even, rather coriaceous, 
nearly two inches long. Flowers larger than in either of 
the foregoing. Vahl deferibes five petals, one of which 
is- unconnected with the reft. The drupe is the fize of a 
currant, partly covered by the apparently-flelhy calyx, not 
unlike the fruit of the yew, at leaft in fliape. 
4. Olax phyllanfhi : leaves elliptical, emarginale : ftalks 
fingle-flowered. Native of the fouth coaft of New Hol¬ 
land. A fhrub about fix feet high, with numerous round 
branches. Leaves about half an inch long, of a broad 
elliptical figure, with a notch at the finooth. 
Flowers axillary, folitary, on Ample ftalks, fhorter than 
the leaves ; fotwe male, others female, with a few united 
ones, all on the lame plant. 
5. Olax ftrifia: leaves oblong-linear, with a fmall point; 
ftalks fingle-flowered. Found near Port Jackfon, New 
South Wales. 
Vol. XVII. No. 1189. 
OLD - 445 
6. Olax aphylla: leaves none; fpikes polygamous. 
Gathered by Mr. Brown in the tropical part of New Hol¬ 
land. 
OLAYOO'N, a town of Hindooftan, in the Carnatic : 
fifteen miles fouth-eaft of Tntchinopoly. 
OL'BA, in ancient geography, a town of Afia, in 
Cilicia Trachea, or Mountainous Cilicia, at a certain dif- 
tance from the fea, in the country called Ketida, inha¬ 
bited by the Kennati, who were fubjeCt to the fovereigns 
of Olba. Some medals of this ancient place inform us 
that Olba had the title of Ufa., or facred ; and that Pole- 
mon, one of the fbvereigns of Olba, took the name of 
Marc Antony, in honour of this Roman. It was in the 
year of Rome 713 that Aba received from Antony the 
principality of Olba, an epocha at which Antony and 
Cleopatra fojourned in Cilicia. In procefs of time, the 
head of Auguftus was found on fome medals of Olba. 
The territory of Olba Items to have been both extenfive 
and fertile; it was watered by many rtreams, and pro¬ 
duced plenty of vines and fruit-trees. Under the lower 
empire, Olba comprehended the province of Ifauria, and 
became an epifcopal fee ; but, from the time of Heraclius, 
it belonged 10 the diftriCt of Seleucia. 
OLBA'SA, a town of Afia, in Pifidia.—Alfo, a town 
of Antiochan Cappadocia.—The name was alfo affigned 
to three towns in Afia Minor. 
OLBE'GO, a town of Spain, in Old Caftile : twenty 
miles fouth of Soria. 
OL'BERSDORF, a town of Silefia, chief town of a 
lordfhip, in the principality of Jagerndorf: ten miles 
weft-fouth-weft of Leobfchutz, and feven north-weft of 
Jagerndorf. Lat. 50. i6.N. Ion. 17.44. E. 
OL'BERSLEBEN, a town of Germany, in the princi¬ 
pality of Weimar : three miles weft of Buttftadt. 
OL'BIA, in ancient geography, a town of Sarmatia, at 
the confluence oftheHypanis and the Boryfthenes, about 
fifteen miles from the fea, according to Pliny. It was af¬ 
terwards called Boryjlhenes, and Milctopolis, becaufe 
peopled by a Milefian colony ; and is now luppofed to be 
Oczakow. 
OLBROM', a town of Poland, in the palatinate of 
Cracow: twenty-eight miles nortlf-north-weft of Cracow. 
OL'BY,- a town of France, in the department of the 
Puy de Dome: nine miles weft-fouth-weft of Clermont. 
OL'CADES, in ancient geography, a people who oc¬ 
cupied the interior of Hither Spain ; their territory was 
extenfive, and lay to the fouth of the Carpetani. 
OLCHIN'IUM, or Olcinium, now Dulcigno, a town 
of Dalmatia, on the Adriatic. 
OL'CON, a river of England, in the county of Hereford, 
which runs into the Munnow. 
O'LD, adj. [ealb, alb, ylb, Sax. from ylban, llban, 
to grow old. See Eld.] Part the middle part of life ; 
not young.—He wooes high and low', young and old. 
ShakeJ'peare. — Wanton as girls, as old wives fabulous. 
Cowley. 
’Tis greatly wife to know, before we’re told, 
The melancholy news that we grow old. ' Young. 
Decayed by time.—Thy raiment w'axed not old upon thee. 
Deut. viii. 4.—Of long continuance; begun long ago.— 
When Gardiner was fent over as ambaflador into France, 
with great pomp, he fpoke to an old acquaintance of his 
that came to take his leave of him. Camden's Rem. —Not 
new.—Ye ftiall eat of the old ftore. Levit. xxvi. 10.—The' 
vine bearetii more'grapes when it is young; but grapes' 
that make better wine when it is old ; for that the juice is 
better concoCted. Bacon s Nat. Hijl. —Ancient; not mo¬ 
dern.— The Genoefe are cunning, indultrious, and 
inured to hardfhip ; which was the character of the old 
Ligurians. Addifpn. —Of any lpecified duration.—How 
old art thou ? Not fo young, fir, to love a woman for 
finging; nor fo old, to doat on her for any thing. I have 
years on my back forty-eight. Shake/pcare's K. Lear. 
5 X Plead 
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