Common Name: OLEASTER FAMILY
Habit: Shrub, tree, generally thorny, generally densely silvery-hairy throughout; hairs generally scale-like; occasionally +- dioecious. Leaf: simple, alternate or opposite, generally deciduous, entire; petiole generally short; stipules 0. Inflorescence: generally umbel-like, axillary; flowers 1--few. Flower: radial; hypanthium rotate to salverform, fleshy in age, lower part generally constricted, persistent, with a nectary disk; sepals generally 4, +- petal-like; petals 0; anthers 4 or 8, +- sessile; ovary superior but appearing inferior, chamber 1, style 1. Fruit: achene enclosed in fleshy hypanthium, appearing drupe- or berry-like.
Genera In Family: 3 genera, +- 45 species: North America, Europe, Asia, eastern Australia; especially temperate, subtropics.
eFlora Treatment Author: Elizabeth McClintock, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Douglas H. Goldman, Bruce G. Baldwin.