Phillyrea

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Phillyrea
Phillyrea latifolia
Phillyrea latifolia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Lamiales
Family: Oleaceae
Genus: Phillyrea
L.
Species

See text

Phillyrea is a small genus of two species of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae, native to the Mediterranean region, the Canary Islands and Madeira.

They are evergreen shrubs or small trees growing to 3-9 m tall, related to Ligustrum, Olea and Osmanthus. The leaves are in opposite pairs, small, leathery, ovate to lanceolate, 2-6 cm long and 0.5-2 cm broad. The flowers are small, greenish-white, produced in short clusters. The fruit is a drupe containing a single seed.

Species
  • Phillyrea angustifolia L.
  • Phillyrea latifolia L. (syn. P. media)

A third species P. decora from the Caucasus is now usually treated in the genus Osmanthus as Osmanthus decorus.

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