Olea

Olea (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>) 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.<ref name = powo/> They are evergreen trees and shrubs, with small, opposite, entire leaves. The fruit is a drupe. Leaves of Olea contain trichosclereids.<ref>Flora of China v 15 p 295, 木犀榄属 mu xi lan shu, Olea Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 7. 1753. </ref>

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,<ref>Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Olea europaea L.</ref><ref>Altevista Flora Italiana, Oleastro, Olea europaea L. </ref> 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.Template:Citation needed

Olea species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including double-striped pug. Template:Citation needed

Species

12 species are currently accepted:<ref name = powo/>

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

• Chionanthus foveolatus (E.Mey.) Stearn (as O. foveolata E.Mey.)
• Ligustrum compactum var. compactum (as O. compacta Wall. ex G.Don)
• Nestegis cunninghamii (Hook.f.) L.A.S.Johnson (as O. cunninghamii Hook.f.)
• Noronhia emarginata (Lam.) Thouars (as O. emarginata Lam.)
• Osmanthus americanus (L.) Benth. & Hook.f. ex A.Gray (as O. americana L.)
• Osmanthus heterophyllus (G. Don) P.S.Green (as O. aquifolium Siebold & Zucc. or O. ilicifolia Siebold ex Hassk.)
• Tetrapilus borneensis Template:Small (as Olea borneensis Boerl.)
• Tetrapilus brachiatus Template:Small (as Olea brachiata (Lour.) Merr.)
• Tetrapilus rubrovenius Template:Small (as Olea rubrovenia (Elmer) Kiew)
• Tetrapilus tsoongii Template:Small (as Olea tsoongii (Merr.) P.S.Green and Olea yuennanensis Hand.-Mazz.)

List source :<ref name=grin2>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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