Kauaʻi record · kba_plant_olea_europaea_subsp_africana
African Olive
Olea europaea subsp. africana
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About African Olive
African Olive (Olea europaea subsp. africana) is an introduced tree documented as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist. Native across much of sub-Saharan Africa and nearby islands, occupying dry woodland, bushland, and forest margins. Bird-consumed drupes can move seed beyond planted trees. Bishop Museum documents the exact subspecies as naturalized on Kauaʻi; Smithsonian screening did not return an exact-name match, and separate 2015 forest evidence under subsp. cuspidata sensu lato is not reassigned here.
Kauaʻi evidence
Taxonomic identity, tree form, diagnostic morphology and island occurrence use the linked reviewed sources. Historical planting, cultivation, naturalization and invasive status are separate. Generated imagery is not occurrence evidence.
Names and classification
- Scientific name
- Olea europaea subsp. africana
- Common names
- African Olive · Wild olive
- Other names
- Olea europaea subsp. africana · African olive · Wild olive · Olea africana · Olea verrucosa · Olea kilimandscharica
- Record type
- Species
Kauaʻi occurrence and status
- Kauaʻi occurrence
- Recorded on Kauaʻi
- Origin
- Introduced
- Conservation status
- Not yet assessed
- Evidence date
- 2026-10-06
- Evidence limits
- Present island-wide abundance, occupied habitat, recruitment, population trend, and ecological effects have not been quantified; no invasive severity is inferred from checklist or forestry status.
Habitat and ecology
- Habitats
- Not yet assessed
- Food and resource needs
- Not yet assessed
- Reproduction
- Small flowers require pollination and mature into one-seeded drupes dispersed by fruit-eating birds and other animals. Kauaʻi-specific flowering, dispersal, seed dormancy, and recruitment have not been studied.
- Shelter
- Not yet assessed
- Growth form
- Shrub or tree
Threats and conservation
- Monitoring
- Not yet assessed
- Data gaps
- Current population extent and trajectory · Additional species-specific ecological and conservation sources
Process and seasonal context
- Seasonal timing
- Not yet assessed
- Seasonal description
- African Olive (Olea europaea subsp. africana) is an introduced tree documented as naturalized on Kauaʻi by Bishop Museum’s 2025 checklist. Native across much of sub-Saharan Africa and nearby islands, occupying dry woodland, bushland, and forest margins. Bird-consumed drupes can move seed beyond planted trees. Bishop Museum documents the exact subspecies as naturalized on Kauaʻi; Smithsonian screening did not return an exact-name match, and separate 2015 forest evidence under subsp. cuspidata sensu lato is not reassigned here.