Notelaea is a genus of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae and is endemic to Australia. Plants in the genus Notelaea are shrubs or small trees with leaves arranged in opposite pairs, flowers arranged in racemes in leaf axils with small sepals and 2 pairs of petals joined in pairs, 2 stamens and an ovary with 2 ovules with a 2-lobed stigma.
Plants in the genus Notelaea are shrubs or small trees with simple, leathery leaves arranged in opposite pairs. The flowers are bisexual arranged in racemes in leaf axils, sometimes reduced to sessile clusters. The sepals are small, joined at the base with 4 triangular lobes and the 4 petals are broadly egg-shaped and joined in pairs at the base of the stamens. Each flower has 2 stamens with a flask-shaped ovary with 2 locules each with 2 ovules. The style is short with a 2-lobed stigma and the fruit is a dupe containing a single seed.[1] [2]
The genus Notelaea was first formally described in 1803 by Étienne Pierre Ventenat in Description des plantes nouvelles et peu connues, cultivées dans le jardin de J.-M. Cels, and the first species he described (the type species) was Notelaea longifolia.[3] The genus name (Noteleia) is formed from two Greek words, notos and elaia, meaning southern olive.[4] [5]
The following is a list of species of Notolaea accepted by the Australian Plant Census as at 30 June 2024:[6]