Olea | |
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Olea europaea (Olive), Lisbon, Portugal | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Lamiales |
Family: | Oleaceae |
Tribe: | Oleeae |
Subtribe: | Oleinae |
Genus: | Olea L. (1753) [1] |
Synonyms [2] | |
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Olea ( /ˈoʊliə/ OH-lee-ə [3] ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae. It includes 12 species native to warm temperate and tropical regions of the Middle East, southern Europe, Africa, southern Asia, and Australasia. [2] They are evergreen trees and shrubs, with small, opposite, entire leaves. The fruit is a drupe. Leaves of Olea contain trichosclereids. [4]
For humans, the most important and familiar species is by far the olive (Olea europaea), native to the Mediterranean region, Africa, southwest Asia, and the Himalayas, [5] [6] which is the type species of the genus. The native olive (O. paniculata) is a larger tree, attaining a height of 15–18 m in the forests of Queensland, and yielding a hard and tough timber. The yet harder wood of the black ironwood O. capensis, an inhabitant of Natal, is important in South Africa.[ citation needed ]
Olea species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including double-striped pug. [ citation needed ]
12 species are currently accepted: [2]
Oleaceae, also known as the olive family or sometimes the lilac family, is a taxonomic family of flowering shrubs, trees, and a few lianas in the order Lamiales. It presently comprises 28 genera, one of which is recently extinct. The extant genera include Cartrema, which was resurrected in 2012. The number of species in the Oleaceae is variously estimated in a wide range around 700. The flowers are often numerous and highly odoriferous. The family has a subcosmopolitan distribution, ranging from the subarctic to the southernmost parts of Africa, Australia, and South America. Notable members include olive, ash, jasmine, and several popular ornamental plants including privet, forsythia, fringetrees, and lilac.
Canarium is a genus of about 120 species of tropical and subtropical trees, in the family Burseraceae. They grow naturally across tropical Africa, south and southeast Asia, Indochina, Malesia, Australia and western Pacific Islands; including from southern Nigeria east to Madagascar, Mauritius, Sri Lanka and India; from Burma, Malaysia and Thailand through the Malay Peninsula and Vietnam to south China, Taiwan and the Philippines; through Borneo, Indonesia, Timor and New Guinea, through to the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Palau.
Osmanthus is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae. Most of the species are native to eastern Asia with a few species from the Caucasus, New Caledonia, and Sumatra. Osmanthus has been known in China since ancient times with the earliest writings coming from the Warring States period; the book Sea and Mountain. South Mountain states: "Zhaoyao Mountain had a lot of Osmanthus".
Litsea is a genus of evergreen or deciduous trees or shrubs belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The genus includes a large number of accepted species in tropical and subtropical areas of North America and Asia.
Dillenia is a genus of flowering evergreen or semi-evergreen trees and shrubs in the family Dilleniaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of southern Asia, Australasia, and the Indian Ocean islands.
Chionanthus, common name: fringetrees, is a genus of about 140 species of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae.
Ormosia is a genus of legumes. 131 living species, mostly trees or large shrubs, are native to the tropical Americas, from southwestern Mexico to Bolivia and southern Brazil, to southern, southeastern, and eastern Asia, and to New Guinea and Queensland. Most are tropical, while some extend into temperate temperate regions of China. A few species are threatened by habitat destruction, while the Hainan ormosia is probably extinct already.
Microcos is a genus of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae sensu lato or Tiliaceae or Sparrmanniaceae.
Pinanga is a genus of flowering plant of the palm family in the subtribe Arecinae. It is native to eastern and southern Asia across to New Guinea.
Xylopia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Annonaceae. They are mostly trees and some shrubs. There are about 160 species distributed in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Polyosma is a genus of about 90 species of trees native to south-east Asia. They occur from China south through south-east Asia to the east coast of Australia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia.
Blumea is a genus of flowering plants of the family Asteraceae.
Thottea is a genus of flowering plants in the pipevine family, Aristolochiaceae.
Tetrapilus borneensis is a species of flowering plants in the olive family, Oleaceae. It grows as a tree up to 25 metres (80 ft) tall, with a trunk diameter of up to 20 centimetres (8 in). The bark is whitish or light grey. The flowers are white or yellowish-green. Fruit ripens to black. T. borneensis is found in Borneo and the Philippines. Its habitat is forests from sea level to 1,650 metres (5,400 ft) elevation.
Tetrapilus brachiatus is a species of flowering plant in the olive family, Oleaceae. It grows as a shrub or small tree up to 10 metres (30 ft) tall, with a stem diameter of up to 5 centimetres (2 in). The twigs are pale brown. The flowers are dull white. Fruit ripens to purple-black. The specific epithet brachiata is from the Latin meaning "branched", referring to the decussate inflorescence. T. brachiatus is native to China, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Phanera is a genus of flowering plants in the legume subfamily Cercidoideae and the tribe Bauhinieae. This genus differs from Bauhinia in being vines or lianas, generally with tendrils and a lobed rather than spathaceous calyx, and from Schnella in having only three fertile stamens rather than ten, and being native to the Indomalayan realm and the Australasian realm rather than the Americas. The subsection Corymbosae was recently segregated into a new genus, Cheniella. It has been suggested that the genus Lasiobema should be reduced to a section within Phanera.
Tetrapilus is a genus of flowering plants in the olive family, Oleaceae. It includes 21 species native to south and southeast Asia, ranging from India through Indochina and southern China to Malesia.
Callicarpa (beautyberry) is a genus of shrubs and small trees in the family Lamiaceae. They are native to east and southeast Asia, Australia, Madagascar, southeast North America and South America.