Oleaceae
Trees and shrubs; shoots commonly prominently lenticellate. Lvs usually opposite and exstipulate. Fls regular, ⚥ or unisexual, in racemes, panicles or fascicles, often fragrant. Calyx usually 4-lobed, sometimes minute or 0. Corolla 4-(12)-lobed, sometimes of free petals, sometimes 0. Stamens 2-(5), often epipetalous and with short filaments. Ovary superior, 2-celled, with 2-(10) ovules per cell; style short or 0; stigmas simple or 2-lobed. Fr. a drupe, berry, capsule or samara. Seeds usually 1-4, endospermic or non-endospermic.
Key
c. 29 genera, 600 spp., cosmopolitan.
The Oleaceae includes some of the commonest ornamental woody plants cultivated in N.Z. In addition to the genera which occur wild in N.Z., Forsythia Vahl and Osmanthus Lour. spp. and hybrids persist for a long time in abandoned gardens and domains, but none have apparently become properly naturalised although Forsythia is represented abundantly in every settled part of the country except the far north of the North Id. Forsythia suspensa (Thunb.) Vahl sometimes forms dense suckering clumps in the vicinity of original plantings; like other Forsythia spp. it is deciduous, has superposed winter buds, yellow corollas with lobes > the tube, and 2-celled dehiscent capsules, but is distinguished from other spp. by the long arching shoots with internodes hollow rather than having a lamellate pith. Osmanthus spp. are evergreen, the often fragrant fls are in fascicles or short-stalked panicles, and the fr. is a one-seeded drupe.
