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Oleaceae (Order of erect or climbing)

An order of erect or climbing shrubs or trees, inhabiting the temperate and warmer regions of the globe. Flowers hermaphrodite, rarely dioecious or polygamous, regular; calyx campanulate, four or many-toothed or lobed, rarely none; corolla gamo-patalous, salver or funnel-shaped, or campanulate; lobes or petals four, rarely five or six, sometimes absent; inflorescence sometimes centrifugal, dichotomously cymose, sometimes trichotomously paniculate, mostly or totally centripetal, or the branchlets ultimately centrifugal-cymose; panicles, or cymes, loose, or in contracted fascicles, axillary or terminal. Fruit indehiscent, or a loculicidal capsule, a berry, or a drupe. Leaves opposite, rarely alternate or whorled, simple or pinnately three or few-foliolate, entire or toothed; stipules none. Olive oil is expressed from the pericarp of the drupe of Olea europaea, and the unripe drupe, macerated in brine, is eaten. Ash-wood (Fraxinus) is invaluable for its lightness, flexibility, and strength; and a sugary juice, Manna, is produced by F. Ornus and some other species; while the bark of the common Ash (F. excelsior) has been proposed as a substitute for quinine. The order contains eighteen genera and about 280 species. Illustrative genera are: Fraxinus, Jasminum, Olea, and Syringa.