PLants trees, shrubs, or subshrubs, sometimes climbing. Leas usually opposite, sometimes alternate, simple or compound, without stipules. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, of 1-many flowers. Flowers radially symmetric, usually bisexual, rarely unisexual; calyces usually 4-lobed, lobes usually valvate; corollas usually 4-lobed, lobes imbricate, valvate, or convolute; stamens usually 2, attached to the corolla tubes; anthers with 2 thecae, longitudinally dehiscent; ovaries superior, 2-celled, usually with 2 ovules per cell; styles 1, terminal, 2-lobed at the top. Fruits dry or fleshy, dehiscent or indehiscent, 1(-4)-seeded; seeds usually with endosperm.
The Oleaceae family includes about 30 genera and 600 species and is cosmopolitan in its distribution Its best known species is probably Olea europaea, the source of olive oil.
