Olea

Olea
Olea europaea (Olive), Lisbon, Portugal
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Lamiales
Family:	Oleaceae
Tribe:	Oleeae
Subtribe:	Oleinae
Genus:	Olea L. (1753)[1]
Synonyms[2]
Enaimon Raf. (1838) Leuranthus Knobl. (1934) Steganthus Knobl. (1934) Stereoderma Blume (1828)

Olea (/ˈoʊliə/ OH-lee-ə^[3]) 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.^[2] They are evergreen trees and shrubs, with small, opposite, entire leaves. The fruit is a drupe. Leaves of Olea contain trichosclereids.^[4]

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,^[5][6] 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.^{[citation needed]}

Olea species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including double-striped pug. ^{[citation needed]}