Phillyrea

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Phillyrea
Phillyrea latifolia2.jpg
Phillyrea latifolia
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Oleaceae
Tribe: Oleeae
Subtribe: Oleinae
Genus: Phillyrea
L.
Type species
Phillyrea latifolia [1]
L.

Phillyrea is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae, native to the Mediterranean region, and naturalized in the Canary Islands and Madeira. [2]

They are evergreen shrubs or small trees growing to 3–9 m tall, related to Ligustrum , Olea and Osmanthus . The leaves are in opposite pairs, small, leathery, ovate to lanceolate, 2–6 cm long and 0.5–2 cm broad. The flowers are small, greenish-white, produced in short clusters. The fruit is a drupe containing a single seed.

Species

A third species P. decora from the Caucasus is now usually treated in the genus Osmanthus as Osmanthus decorus . Over 200 other names have been proposed over the years, now considered synonyms of existing taxa. [2]

References

  1. Lectotype designated by: Hitchcock, A. S. 1923. American Journal of Botany 10: 514.
  2. 1 2 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Phillyrea