Olea L.

Type species: Olea europaea L.

Synonyms:

Distribution: Mediterranean area, E. Africa, S. Asia, E. Australia and New Caledonia

Number of species: 10

Description (from Flora of China): Trees or shrubs, evergreen, sometimes polygamodioecious. Leaves opposite, simple, petiolate; leaf blade entire or serrate. Inflorescences axillary or terminal panicles, sometimes racemes or umbels. Flowers small, bisexual or unisexual. Calyx small, campanulate, 4-lobed to subtruncate; lobes deltate or ovate, usually ciliate. Corolla with a short tube, 4-lobed; lobes shorter or longer than tube, usually valvate in bud, cucullate. Stamens 2(-4), inserted at base of corolla tube, included; filaments short or absent; anthers ovate, elliptic, or subrounded. Ovules 2 in each locule, pendulous. Style short or absent; stigma capitate or slightly 2-cleft. Fruit a drupe; endocarp thick and hard, sometimes papery. Seeds often 1; endosperm fleshy or bony; radicle short, upward.

Links to species lists

• Species moved to Tetrapilus
• Description of Olea with a key to the species treated in Flora of China
• Olea in Flora Europaea
• Olea extracted from the GRIN database
• Olea in the Australian Plant Name Index (APNI) database
• Olea in Flora of Zimbabwe
• Olea in Flora of Mozambique
• Olea in Flora Zambesiaca
• Olea in the Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Madagascar

Links to images

• My photos of Olea europaea (olive orchard and fruits) and Olea undulata (leaves)
• Drawing of Olea europaea from Köhler's Medicinal Plants
• Olea europaea from Desert Tropicals Home Page
• Olea europaea in Flora of Europe - a photographic herbarium

References

• Alcantara, J. M & Rey, P. J. & Valera, F. & Sanchez Lafuente, A. M. 1997. Fruit losses and fruit removal in Olea europaea var. sylvestris Brot. (Oleaceae). Anales del Jardin Botanico de Madrid 55(1): 101-110.
• Altamura Betti, M. M. & Pasqua, G. & Mazzolani, G. 1982. Development of the female gametophyte in Olea europaea L. Annali di Botannica 40: 111-117.
• Altamura Betti, M. M. & Pasqua, G. & Mazzolani, G. 1982. Embryogenesis in Olea europaea L. Annali di Botannica 40: 141-152.
• Altamura Betti, M. M. et al. 1985. Elements for the revision of the genus Olea (Tourn.) L. VI. The taxa present in Oceania which can be ascribed to Olea and allied genera. Ann. Bot. (Rome) 43: 45-52.
• Altamura, L. & Altamura, M. M. & Mazzolani, G. 1987. Elements for the revision of the genus Olea (Tourn.) L. VII. The taxa present in Asia which can be ascribed to Olea and allied genera. Ann. Bot. 45(1): 119-134.
• Arzee, T. 1953. Morphology and ontogeny of foliar sclerids in Olea europaea L. I. Distribution and structure. Am. J. Bot. 40(9): 680-687.
• Baldoni, L. & Guerrero, C. & Sossey-Alouii, K. & Abbott, A. G. & Angiolillo, A. & Lumaret, R. 2002. Phylogenetic relationships among Olea species, based on nucleotide variation at a non-coding chloroplast DNA region. Plant Biology 4: 346-351.
• Besnard, G & Khadari, B. & Villemur, P. & Bervillé, A. 2000. Cytoplasmic male sterility in the olive (Olea europaea L.). Theor. Appl. Genet. 100: 1018-1024.
• Besnard, G. & Baradat, P. & Breton, C. & Khadari, B. & Bervillé, A. 2001. Olive domestication from structure of oleasters and cultivars using nuclear RAPDs and mitochondrial RFLPs. Genet. Sel. Evol. 0: 1-19.
• Besnard, G. & Breton, C. & Baradat, P. & Khadari, B. & Bervillé, A, 2001. Cultivar identification in Olive based on RAPD markers. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 126(6): 668-675.
• Besnard, G. & Bervillé, A. 2002. On chloroplast DNA variations in the olive (Olea europaea L.) complex: comparison of RFLP and PCR polymorphisms. Theor. Appl. Genet. 104: 1157-1163.
• Besnard, G. & Garcia-Verdugo, C. & Rubio de Casas, R. & Treier, U. A. Galland, N. & Vargas, P. 2008. Polyploidy in the Olive Complex (Olea europaea): Evidence from Flow Cytometry and Nuclear Microsatellite Analyses. Ann. Bot. 101: 25-30.
• Besnard, G. & Green, P. S. & Berville, A. 2002. The genus Olea: molecular approaches of its structure and relationships to other Oleaceae. Acta Botanica Gallica 149(1): 49-66.
• Besnard, G & Khadari, B. & Baradat, P. & Bervillé, A. 2002. Olea europaea (Oleaceae) phylogeography based on chloroplast DNA polymorphism. Theor. Appl. Genet. 104: 1353-1361.
• Besnard, G. & Rubio de Casas, R. & Christin, P-A & Vargas, P. 2009. Phylogenetics of Olea (Oleaceae) based on plastid and nuclear ribosomal DNA sequences: Tertiary climatic shifts and lineage differentiation times. Ann. Bot. 104: 143-160.
• Bronzini de Caraffa, V. & Maury, J. & Gambotti, C. & Breton, C. & Bervillé, A. & Giannettini, J. 2002. Mitochondrial DNA variation and RAPD mark oleasters, olive and feral olive from Western and Eastern Mediterranean. Theor. Appl. Genet. 104: 1209-1216.
• Cuevas, J. & Polito, V. S. 2004. The role of staminate flowers in the breeding system of Olea europaea (Oleaceae): an andromonoecious, wind-pollinated taxon. Ann. Bot. 93: 547-553.
• Dyer, C. 1991. A biosystematic study of the African species of Olea L. (Oleaceae). Dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
• Fabbri, A. & Alerci, L. 1999. Reproductive and vegetative bud differentiation in Olea europaea L. Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology 74(4): 522-527.
• Fernandez, M. C. & Rodriguez-Garcia, M. I. 1995. Pollen grain apertures in Olea europaea L. (Oleaceae). Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 85(1-2): 99-109.
• Fernandez, R. 1979. Factores que afectan a la polinización y cuajado de frutos en el Olivo (Olea europaea L.). Fundación Juan March. Serie Universitaria, número 99. Madrid.
• Friis, I. & Green, P. S. 1986. Olea capensis (Oleaceae) in north-east and east tropical Africa. Kew Bull. 41: 36.
• Gonzalez Minero, F. J & Candau, P. 1997. Model for predicting the flowering of Olea europaea L. (Oleaceae) based on pollen counts and temperature measurements. Anales del Jardin Botanico de Madrid 55(1): 181-183.
• Green, P. S. 1995. A new combination in Olea (Oleaceae). Kew Bull. 50(2): 338.
• Green, P. S. 2002. A revision of Olea L. Kew Bull. 57(1): 91-140.
• Green, P. S. & Kupicha, F. K. 1979. Notes on the genus Olea. Kew Bull. 34(1): 69-75.
• Green, P. S. & Wickens, G. E. 1989 The Olea europaea complex. In: K. Tan (ed.), The Davis & Hedge Festschrift: 287-299. Edinburgh University Press.
• Hess, J. & Kadereit, J. W. & Vargas, P. 2000. The colonization history of Olea europaea L. in Macaronesia based on internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS-1) sequences, randomly amplified polymorphic DNAs (RAPD), and intersimple sequence repeats (ISSR). Mol. Ecol. 9: 857-868.
• Kiew, R. 1979. Florae Malesianae praecursores LX. The Oleaceae of Malesia. II. The genus Olea. Blumea 25: 305-313.
• Kiew, R. 1993. Olea palawanensis (Oleaceae), a new species from the Philippines. Blumea 38(1): 127-128.
• Kiew, R. 1999. Reappraisal of Olea species in Malesia. Gardens’ Bulletin Singapore 51: 85-98.
• Kiew, R. & Ibrahim, C. S. 1982. Comparative study of leaf anatomy of Malaysian species of Chionanthus and Olea (Oleaceae) with special reference to foliar sclerids. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 84: 79-101.
• King, J. R. 1938. Morphological development of the fruit of the Olive. Hilgardia 11(8): 437-458.
• Lavee, S. 2007. Biennial bearing in the olive (Olea europaea). Annales Ser. Hist. Nat. 17: 101-112.
• Knoblauch, E. 1934. Steganthus und Leuranthus, zwei neue Gattungen der Oleaceen. Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 11: 114-117.
• Labat, J. N. & Pignal, M. & Pascal, O. 1999. Three new species of Oleaceae and note on the presence of Olea capensis in the Comoros Archipelago. Novon 9(1): 66-72.
• Lavee, S. & Rallo, L. & Rapoport, H. F. & Troncoso, A. 1999. The floral biology of the olive II. The effect of inflorescence load and distribution per shoot on fruit set and load. Scientia Horticulturae Amsterdam 82(3-4): 181-192.
• Newberry, P. E. 1937. On some African species of the genus Olea and the original home of the cultivated olive-tree. Proc. Linn. Soc. London 150: 3-16.
• Nilsson, S. 1988. A survey of the pollen morphology of Olea with particular reference to Olea europaea sens. lat. Kew Bull. 43: 303-315.
• Srivastava, S. K. & Kapoor, S. L. 1985. A taxonomic revision of Indian Olea Linn. (Oleaceae). J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. 7(1): 167-177.

Maintained by Eva Wallander | Last updated: 2022-01-07