Olea dioica Roxb.

കരിവെട്ടി

Family : OLEACEAE

Synonym : Olea laevis Stokes

Common Names : Edana, Edala, Karivetti, Koruku, Vayala, Vayana, Vetila, Vidana, Palarana

Flowering Period : November-April

Distribution : India

Habitat : Semi-evergreen and moist deciduous forests, also in the plains

Uses : Avenue plant, remedy for fever

Key Characters :

Trees, to 15 m high, bark grey or brown, rough, shallowly vertically grooved. Leaves simple, opposite, 6-14.5 x 3-6 cm, elliptic, elliptic-oblong or elliptic lanceolate, apex acute to acuminate, base acute, margin serrate or entire, glabrous, punctate, pink when young, coriaceous; petiole 7-10 mm, slender, glabrous, grooved above; lateral nerves 8-12 pairs, pinnate, slender, glabrous; intercostae obscure. Flowers polygamo-dioecious, creamy-white, small, in panicles, axillary or from leafless nodes, pedicellate, 4 mm long, male panicles larger and denser than hermaphrodite. Calyx 1 mm, 4 teethed, campanulate, obtuse, ciliate. Corolla 2.5 mm long, lobes 4, shorter than the tube, triangular, obtuse, hairy within. Stamens 2, included, anthers sessile, 1 mm. Ovary 1.2 mm, 2-celled, superior, 4 ovuled; style 0.7 mm, short; stigma capitate. Fruit a drupe, 8 x 6 mm, ellipsoid, blue; seeds 6 x 4 mm, minutely muriculate.