Olea
Olea europaea (Olive), Lisbon, Portugal
Scientific classification Edit this 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]
  • Enaimon Raf. (1838)
  • Leuranthus Knobl. (1934)
  • Steganthus Knobl. (1934)
  • Stereoderma Blume (1828)

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]

Species

12 species are currently accepted:[2]

  1. Olea capensis L. – Small Ironwood – Comoros, Madagascar; Africa from South Africa north to Ethiopia, Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, etc.
  2. Olea capitellata Ridl. – Pahang
  3. Olea chimanimani Kupicha – Chimanimani Mountains of Mozambique and Zimbabwe
  4. Olea europaea L. – Olive – Mediterranean, Africa, southwestern Asia, Himalayas; naturalized many other places
  5. Olea exasperata Jacq. – South Africa
  6. Olea lancea Lam. – Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues Island
  7. Olea luzonica Kiew – Philippines (Luzon)
  8. Olea paniculata R.Br. – Yunnan, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Kashmir, Malaysia, Nepal, New Guinea, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, New Caledonia, Vanuatu
  9. Olea puberula Ridl. – Peninsular Malaysia
  10. Olea schliebenii Knobl. – Tanzania
  11. Olea welwitschii (Knobl.) Gilg & G.Schellenb. – central and eastern Africa from Ethiopia to Zimbabwe
  12. Olea woodiana Knobl. – South Africa, Eswatini, Kenya, Tanzania

Formerly placed here

List source :[7]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Olea.
Wikispecies has information related to Olea.
  1. ^  GRIN (April 4, 2006). "Olea information from NPGS/GRIN". Taxonomy for Plants. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland: USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved May 20, 2011.
  2. ^ a b c Olea L. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  3. ^ Sunset Western Garden Book. 1995. pp. 606–607.
  4. ^ Flora of China v 15 p 295, 木犀榄属 mu xi lan shu, Olea Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 7. 1753.
  5. ^ Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Olea europaea L.
  6. ^ Altevista Flora Italiana, Oleastro, Olea europaea L.
  7. ^ GRIN. "Species in GRIN for genus Olea". Taxonomy for Plants. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland: USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved May 20, 2011.
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