Olea
Olea ( ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae. It includes 30-40 species 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.
AI overview
Olea is a genus of evergreen trees and shrubs found in warm regions across the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australasia, containing 30-40 species with small opposite leaves and fleshy fruits. It matters because it represents an important group of flowering plants in the Oleaceae family that are widely distributed across multiple continents and climates.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Species
FamilyOleaceae
Native toAfghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Baleares, Bismarck Archipelago, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, China South-Central
Il genere Olea L., 1753 appartiene alla famiglia delle Oleaceae. Esso comprende (a seconda delle classificazioni) da 5 a circa 30 specie di piccoli alberi o grandi arbusti sempreverdi. Questi alberi hanno foglie opposte, piccole e indivise; il frutto è una drupa. Si trovano allo stato naturale in varie zone del mondo, nel bacino del Mediterraneo, nell'Africa meridionale, nell'Asia sudorientale, in Nuova Caledonia e in Australia orientale. Il membro più famoso è di gran lunga l'olivo coltivato, Olea europaea, che è stato utilizzato sin dai tempi più antichi per l'olio e per mangiare il frutto, che essendo assai amaro allo stato naturale, dev'essere soggetto a una fermentazione naturale o messo sotto salamoia per poter essere consumato.
via · Kew POWO
Research
7,285 papersArticle
5 sectionsContents
- Species
- Formerly placed here
- Description
- Taxonomy
- References
Olea ( ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae. It includes 30-40 species 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 and familiar species is by far the olive (Olea europaea), native to the Mediterranean region, Africa, southwest Asia, and the Himalayas, 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.