In the common Privet (_Ligustrum vulgare_), the flowers, which are produced in terminal compound racemes, have a very short calyx (see _a_ in _fig._ 65), with a funnel-shaped corolla, having a wide tube in proportion to the limb (_b_), which is very short and divided into four segments. The anthers of the stamens and the stigma are seen in the throat of the corolla. The berry is drupe-like, and generally contains two one-seeded nuts. The leaves are simple and opposite. There are many species of Privet, but the handsomest is _L. lucidum_, the leaves of which are broad and shining, and the panicles of flowers spreading. This tree yields a kind of waxy matter from its leaves and branches when boiled, which is said to be used by the Chinese for candles. [Illustration: FIG. 65.—FLOWER OF THE PRIVET.] The Phillyrea is a handsome evergreen shrub, very useful in shrubberies, from its forming a close compact bush of a deep green, which makes a good background to Tree Roses, Almond-trees, _Magnolia conspicua_, or any other flowering plant that would appear naked if its flowers were not relieved by a background of green. The flowers of the Phillyrea are small and of a greenish white. The fruit is a drupe, containing a two-celled stone or nut, but with seldom more than one perfect seed. The Olive (_Olea sativa_) has small white flowers, resembling those of the Privet, and a fleshy drupe like a Sloe, with a one or two celled stone or nut. The oil is contained in the fleshy part of the fruit, and the best oil is that which is obtained by crushing the pulp of the fruit without breaking the stone or nut. The Fringe-tree (_Chionanthus virginica_) differs from the preceding genera in the length of the segments of the limb of its corolla, which is cut into long slender shreds like fringe. In all other respects except that the pulp of the fruit does not contain oil, this genus is closely allied to the Olive. The common Lilac (_Syringa vulgaris_) has its flowers disposed in a kind of panicled raceme called a thyrsus. The calyx is very small, and obscurely four-toothed (see _a_ in _fig._ 66), and the corolla (_b_) is funnel-shaped, with a four-parted limb; the stigma is two-cleft, and both the style and stamens are enclosed in the tube of the corolla. The fruit is a dry two-celled and two-seeded capsule, which opens with two valves, as shown at _c_, each valve having a narrow dissepiment down the middle: the shape of the seed is shown at _d_. The leaves are simple, opposite, and entire; and the branches are filled with pith, which may easily be taken out and the branch left hollow like a pipe; and hence the generic name of Syringa, from _Syrinx_ a pipe. [Illustration: FIG. 66.—FLOWER AND SEED-PODS OF THE LILAC.]