Olea

<i>Olea</i>

Olea

Genus of flowering plants

This article is about genus of plant. For the genus of gastropods, see Olea (gastropod). For people with the given name or surname, see Olea (name).

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]

Quick Facts Olea, Scientific classification ...

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. [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. [2]
    Olea L. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  3. [3]
    Sunset Western Garden Book. 1995. pp. 606–607.
  4. [4]
    Flora of China v 15 p 295, 木犀榄属 mu xi lan shu, Olea Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 7. 1753.
  5. [5]
    Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Olea europaea L.
  6. [6]
    Altevista Flora Italiana, Oleastro, Olea europaea L.
  7. [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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