Trees, shrubs, climbers or occasionally low, woody-based, herbaceous plants
Leaves opposite or sometimes alternate, simple or compound, sometimes acarodomatia present on lower surface in axils of veins; stipules 0
Inflorescence cymose, usually paniculate or occasionally appearing fascicled or only one flower developing
Flowers regular, bisexual, or rarely unisexual, sometimes with heterostylous arrangement
Calyx shortly or deeply 4-15-lobed
Corolla gamopetalous, 4- or more-lobed, sometimes lobed almost to base
Stamens 2, rarely 4, epipetalous; anthers opening by longitudinal slits
Ovary superior, 2-locular, with 2-4 axile, pendulous or ascending ovules in each locule; style simple
Fruit dry or fleshy, dehiscent or indehiscent
Seeds sometimes winged; with or without endosperm; embryo straight
Nomenclature:
Oleaceae
Harvey: 478 (1906/1907)
Kupicha: 300 (1983)
Verdoorn: 100 (1963)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Genera ± 25, species ± 600, cosmopolitan in tropical and temperate areas
Southern Africa: Genera 5, species 22. 4 species of *Ligustrum (6436000) are becoming potentially problematic escapes mainly along water courses in the Sabie-Graskop regions of Mpumalanga, and in the Pretoria (Gauteng) and Pietermaritzburg (KwaZulu-Natal) areas, and around Rhodes in Eastern Cape
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Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
The system is still under development, so you may find a few bugs/issues. If you do, please report it via the error reporting button available in various sections of the website or provide us with any useful feedback you may have via the ‘Give us feedback’ option available in the sidebar menu. You can create a free account for yourself by clicking on the user profile icon which will take you through to the login page. Here you can choose the ‘Create an account’ option or simply fill in your details if you have an account already. Having an account on Biodiversity Advisor will provide users with free access to biodiversity resources.
In future, Team SANBI will be able to log in using their day-to-day login details, BGIS users will be able to use their existing accounts and details, and general users will be able to log in using their LinkedIn profile, but for now you will need to create an account.
