Olea


Olea is a genus of about 40 species in the family Oleaceae, native to warm temperate and tropical regions of the Middle East, southern Europe, Africa, southern Asia, and Australasia. They are evergreen trees and shrubs, with small, opposite, entire leaves. The fruit is a drupe. Leaves of Olea contain trichosclereids.
For humans, the most important species is by far the olive, native to the Mediterranean region, Africa, southwest Asia, and the Himalayas, which is the type species of the genus. 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. laurifolia, an inhabitant of Natal, is important in South Africa.
Olea species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including double-striped pug.

Species

Species accepted:
  1. Olea ambrensis H.Perrier - Madagascar
  2. Olea borneensis Boerl. - Borneo, Philippines
  3. Olea brachiata Merr. - Guangdong, Hainan, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Peninsular Malaysia, Anambas Islands
  4. Olea capensis L. – Small Ironwood - Comoros, Madagascar; Africa from South Africa north to Ethiopia, Sudan, Zaire, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, etc
  5. Olea capitellata Ridl. - Pahang
  6. Olea caudatilimba L.C.Chia - Yunnan
  7. Olea chimanimani Kupicha - Chimanimani Mountains of Mozambique and Zimbabwe
  8. Olea cordatula H.L.Li - Vietnam
  9. Olea dioica Roxb. - India, Bangladesh, Myanmar
  10. Olea europaea L. – Olive - Mediterranean, Africa, southwestern Asia, Himalayas; naturalized many other places
  11. Olea exasperata Jacq. - South Africa
  12. Olea gagnepainii Knobl. - Thailand, Laos
  13. Olea gamblei C.B.Clarke - Sikkim
  14. Olea hainanensis H.L.Li - Vietnam, Laos, Guangdong, Hainan
  15. Olea hochstetteri Baker - Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda
  16. Olea javanica Knobl. - Philippines, western Indonesia
  17. Olea lancea Lam. - Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues Island
  18. Olea laxiflora H.L.Li - Yunnan
  19. Olea moluccensis Kiew - Maluku
  20. Olea neriifolia H.L.Li - Hainan
  21. Olea palawanensis Kiew - Palawan
  22. Olea paniculata R.Br. - Yunnan, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Kashmir, Malaysia, Nepal, New Guinea, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, New Caledonia, Vanuatu
  23. Olea parvilimba B.M.Miao - Hainan, Vietnam
  24. Olea polygama Wight - India, Sri Lanka
  25. Olea puberula Ridl. - Peninsular Malaysia
  26. Olea rosea Craib - Yunnan, Thailand
  27. Olea rubrovenia Kiew - Borneo, Philippines
  28. Olea salicifolia Wall. ex G.Don - Assam, southern China, Indochina
  29. Olea schliebenii Knobl. - Tanzania
  30. Olea tetragonoclada L.C.Chia - Guangxi
  31. Olea tsoongii P.S.Green - Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Sichuan, Yunnan
  32. Olea welwitschii Gilg & G.Schellenb. - central and eastern Africa from Ethiopia to Zimbabwe
  33. Olea wightiana Wall. ex G.Don - India
  34. Olea woodiana Knobl. - South Africa, Swaziland, Kenya, Tanzania
  35. Olea yuennanensis Hand.-Mazz. - China

    Formerly placed here