Olea

Olea (pronounced /ˈoʊliːə/) is a genus of about 20 species in the family Oleaceae, native to warm temperate and tropical regions of southern Europe, Africa, southern Asia and Australasia. They are evergreen trees and shrubs, with small, opposite, entire leaves. The fruit is a drupe.

For humans, the most important species is by far the Olive (Olea europaea), native to the Mediterranean region. 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.

Selected species
Olea brachiata
Olea capensis (Small Ironwood)
Olea caudatilimba
Olea chryssophylla, a wild olive of Asia and Africa
Olea europaea (Olive)
Olea exasperata (Dune Olive)
Olea guangxiensis
Olea hainanensis
Olea laurifolia (Black Ironwood)
Olea laxiflora
Olea neriifolia
Olea oleaster, a wild olive whose cultivar "Olivastro" is used as rootstock for O. europaea; formerly classified as the subspecies O. europaea oleaster
Olea paniculata
Olea parvilimba
Olea rosea
Olea salicifolia
Olea sylvestris, a small-fruited wild olive of the Mediterranean region, sometimes used as rootstock for O. europaea.
Olea tetragonoclada
Olea tsoongii
Olea undulata
Olea woodiana (Forest Olive)

Translation

The word "Olea" occurs as such in the following languages: English, Catalan, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish.

Translation(s) in other languages: Corsican: Aliva, Danish: Oliven-slægten, German: Ölbäume, Georgian: ზეთისხილი, Lithuanian: Alyvmedis, Norwegian (Bokmål): Oliventrær, Polish: Oliwka (roślina), Russian: Маслина, Finnish: Öljypuut.