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The Fortune's osmanthus (Osmanthus x fortunei) belongs to Oleaceae (the Olive family). It is a semi-tall evergreen tree that is a crossbreed between the Holly, which is found from southern Tohoku of Honshu to Shikoku and Kyushu, Okinawa in Japan, and Taiwan, and the Fragrant tea olive, which is native to China. It grows 4 to 7 m tall. It produces small, fragrant flowers in the leaf axils around October. It is thought to be dioecious, but all cultivated plants are male and are often used for hedges. This species is thought to be an artificial hybrid that originated in Japan well before the mid-19th century and was brought to Europe by the German botanist and physician Philipp Franz von Siebold (1796-1866).
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