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The Fragrant olive (Osmanthus fragrans var. thunbergii) belongs to Oleaceae (the Olive family). It is a semi-tall evergreen tree that is distributed from China to the Himalayas. There is also a theory that it grows wild in southern Kyushu in Japan. It is a variant of the "Fragrant tea olive" (Osmanthus fragrans var. fragrans) and grows to about 6 m tall. The leaves are narrowly oblong, opposite, almost no serrations, and dioecious. The fragrant, pale orange-yellow flowers bloom in the axils of the leaves from September to October. Unlike the "Feagrant olive" (Osmanthus fragrans var. aurantiacus), it has female plants that bear fruit in Japan. In Chinese, it is called "金桂" (jin gui).
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