Skip to main content
  1. Family: Oleaceae Hoffmanns. & Link

    1. Olea L.

        2. This genus is accepted, and its native range is Tropical & Subtropical Old World to SW. Pacific.

    [FTEA]

    Oleaceae, W. B. Turrill. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1952

    Habit
    Trees or shrubs, with simple, opposite, and generally entire leaves
    Flowers
    Flowers small in axillary or terminal panicles, hermaphrodite, polygamous, or dioecious
    Calyx
    Calyx truncate to 4-lobed
    Corolla
    Corolla with a short tube, campanulate; with 4 induplicate-valvate, valvate, or slightly imbricate segments
    Stamens
    Stamens 2, inserted by short filaments on the corolla tube
    Pistil
    Ovary bilocular, usually 2 pendulous ovules in each loculus; style short, stigma more or less capitate
    Fruits
    Fruit a drupe with a hard bony endocarp
    Seeds
    Seeds typically solitary, endospermous.
    [FZ]

    Oleaceae, F. K. Kupicha. Flora Zambesiaca 7:1. 1983

    Habit
    Trees and shrubs, often with very hard wood.
    Leaves
    Leaves opposite and decussate, simple, often lepidote; acarodomatia absent.
    Flowers
    Flowers small, borne in paniculate cymes, 4–merous.
    Calyx
    Calyx lobes shallow.
    Corolla
    Corolla valvate, with very short tube and ovate petals, these not cucullate.
    Stamens
    Stamens 2, inserted on corolla tube; anthers introrse.
    Pistil
    Ovary subglobose, bilocular with 2 pendent ovules per loculus; style short, stigma capitate (obscurely biloped).
    Fruits
    Fruit a drupe with hard thick endocarp, usually 1–seeded.
    Seeds
    Seed containing endosperm.

    Images

    Distribution

    Native to:

    Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Assam, Baleares, Bangladesh, Borneo, Botswana, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, China South-Central, China Southeast, Comoros, Cyprus, Djibouti, East Aegean Is., East Himalaya, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Free State, Greece, Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Hainan, India, Iran, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jawa, Kenya, Kriti, KwaZulu-Natal, Laos, Lesotho, Lesser Sunda Is., Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Madeira, Malawi, Malaya, Maluku, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Guinea, New South Wales, Niger, Nigeria, Norfolk Is., Northern Provinces, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Portugal, Queensland, Rodrigues, Rwanda, Réunion, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Sicilia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sumatera, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Tibet, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkey-in-Europe, Uganda, Vanuatu, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe

    Introduced into:

    Argentina Northeast, Ascension, Bermuda, Corse, Egypt, France, Iraq, Korea, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, Mexico Southwest, St.Helena, Taiwan

    Accepted Species

    Synonyms

    Other Data

    Olea L. appears in other Kew resources:

    Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
    Hughes, J.F. [161], Tanzania 14608.000
    Hughes, J.F. [162], Tanzania 14609.000
    Hughes, J.F. [183], Tanzania 14610.000
    Hughes, J.F. [169], Tanzania 14611.000
    Hughes, J.F. [185], Tanzania 14612.000
    Hughes, J.F. [165], Tanzania 14613.000
    Hughes, J.F. [170], Tanzania 14614.000
    Hughes, J.F. [163], Tanzania 17433.000
    Newbury, P.E. [s.n.], Egypt K000251161
    Finlayson, G. [Cat. no. s.n.] K001132387
    s.coll. [Cat. no. s.n.], West Bengal K001132386

    Bibliography

    First published in Sp. Pl.: 8 (1753)

    Accepted by

    • Green, P.S. (2006). World Checklist of Oleaceae Manuscript Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

    Literature

    Flora of West Tropical Africa

    • —F.T.A. 4, 1: 17.

    Flora Zambesiaca

    • Sp.Pl. 1: 8(1753).

    Flora of Tropical East Africa

    • Gen. Pl., ed. 5: 8 (1754)

    Sources

    Flora Zambesiaca
    Flora Zambesiaca
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

    Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
    'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

    Kew Backbone Distributions
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2020. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

    Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2020. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0