Phillyrea latifolia L.
Diagnostic description:
An evergreen shrub or small tree up to 5 m tall. The young stems covered in downy felt. Leaves opposite, dark green, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, sometimes slightly cordate, especially the young ones; 3 to 7 cm long; serrated to entire. Flowers small, yellowish-white, fragrant, in short racemes in the leaf axils; corolla 4-lobed, about 4 mm across. Fruit globose, 7 to 10 mm long, blue-black when ripe.
Distribution:
Local: Not common in Gibraltar. Found mainly in the upper and middle parts of the Upper Rock, with scattered trees elsewhere.
Global: Found throughout the Mediterranean region and the Canary Islands.
Ecology:
Flowers from January, February to March (April).
Habitat:
A tree of the maquis and open woodland.