Biorepository Data Portal

Wiggins 1964, Benson and Darrow 1981

Common Name: desert olive Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Tree General: Much branched shrub 1-4 m tall the twigs firm and angular in their branching, finely striate with pale to dark gray bark. Leaves: Opposite to fascicled, the blades oblanceolate to elliptic oblong, green on both surfaces 1.5-2.5 cm long, 4-10 mm wide, broadly cuneate at the base, narrowly revolute along the margins and finely puberulent on both surfaces. Flowers: In small clusters of 2-6, the scales of flowers buds pale yellow, broadly ovate, about 1 mm long, faintly keeled, usually 4 stamens with dark purple anthers, on slender pedicels 4-7 mm long, glabrous. Fruits: Usually asymmetrically curving, an ellipsoid drupe, 2.5-3.5 mm in diameter, 5-8 mm long, purplish black. Ecology: Found on rocky canyon walls and slopes from 2,500-4,500 ft (762-1372 m), flowers December-March. Distribution: Ranges across the lower Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona and south into northern Mexico. Notes: The entire margin of the leaves, its being slightly and narrowly revolute, along with the puberulent surfaces. Ethnobotany: Unknown Etymology: Forestiera is named for Charles Le Forestier, an 18th century French naturalist and physician, while shrevei is an honorific for Forrest Shreve. Synonyms: Forestiera phillyreoides Editor: SBuckley 2011, FSCoburn 2015