Phillyrea angustifolia

Evergreen shrub or small tree up to 5 m tall. It has a dense, open shape, with slender, more or less upright and generally flexible branches, and a short trunk that soon branches, generating a crown that may touch the ground. The bark is more or less smooth and greyish brown becoming darker as the plant reaches maturity. The leaves are simple, opposite, and linear-lanceolate in shape. They are usually three times longer than they are wide (3-8 cm long by 1 cm wide) and have almost no stalk. They generally have an entire whole margin or a few, small, widely-spaced teeth. They are leathery, green on the upper side and paler on the underside. This species is 'androdioecious', meaning it contains individuals with hermaphroditic flowers and others whose flowers are apparently hermaphroditic but that only function as males. The tiny, highly-perfumed flowers appear in the spring on short twigs next to the base of the leaf stalks. Each bloom has 4 greenish white petals that are joined at the base into a very short tube. In general, the narrow-leaved mock privet is reminiscent of the olive trees Olea cerasiformis and Olea europaea. Nevertheless, it differs from these by its small fleshy fruits (drupes) that are less than 1 cm in diameter, bluish black when ripe and rounded at first, becoming pointed at the apex. Each fruit contains a nutlet.