PlantaeDB Logo
Login Sign-up

Genus Schrebera in Family Oleaceae

In botanical taxonomy, a genus (plural genera) is a rank used to group closely related species within a family. In the hierarchy, genus sits below family and above species.

Genera are defined by shared morphological, anatomical, and genetic characteristics (for example, features of flowers, fruits, seeds, or leaves) that indicate a close evolutionary relationship among the species they contain.

Each genus can include one or more species. Examples include Rosa (roses) and Solanum (nightshades, including tomato and eggplant).

Do you wish to read more about plant taxonomy? Click here!

Genus Description

Suggest a correction!

Schrebera is a small genus of trees and shrubs in Oleaceae, currently comprising about three to four accepted species. Its center of diversity lies in eastern and southern tropical Africa, with one species extending to the Indian subcontinent (India to Myanmar). A formal type has not been consistently fixed, but Schrebera swietenioides is the name historically associated with the South Asian taxon and serves as a stable reference point in the region. The genus typically occurs in dry deciduous and semi-evergreen forests, woodland, and wooded grassland, often on sandy or rocky sites at low to moderate elevations.

Key characters distinguish Schrebera among Oleaceae: opposite to subopposite, usually entire leaves; paniculiform inflorescences with actinomorphic, bisexual flowers; a campanulate to funnelform corolla with four spreading lobes and anthers positioned near the mouth; a superior to semi-inferior ovary (in S. swietenioides often apparently semi-inferior), usually with two fused carpels and axile placentation; and fruits that are ellipsoid to subglobose drupes with a single stone containing one or two seeds. African taxa commonly have winged or angular mericarps reminiscent of Forestiera, whereas the South Asian representative bears more ovoid fruits, and vegetative features such as the presence of stipules, leaf thickness, and indumentum are diagnostically important.

Diversity is concentrated in the Afrotropics, with several taxa endemic to regional mosaics of dry forest and savanna; the South Asian element is disjunct and comparatively narrow in distribution. Pollinator data remain limited, but the floral morphology and scent indicate insect visitation; fruits are typically dispersed by frugivorous birds or mammals, while wings or light-seeded mericarps may aid secondary wind-assisted movement. Chromosome reports are fragmentary, and no well-supported base number for the genus is currently established in the literature.

Taxonomically, Schrebera is placed in subtribe Fontanesieae (Oleaceae), where molecular analyses place it near Forestiera and Fontanesia but retain it as a separate genus. The African species are stable in Schrebera; the South Asian taxon has been treated alternatively as S. swietenoides, S. swietenia, S. roxburghii, or as a Forestiera (e.g., F. ligustrina sensu some historical accounts), though Forestiera as presently circumscribed is New World-centered, and such treatments are not widely supported in recent treatments. Regional floras (e.g., Green, 2004; FTEA, updated 2023) provide the standard working circumscription.

Schrebera is of limited economic importance. Some African species are locally valued for timber and fuelwood, and the group is occasionally cultivated in arboreta for its attractive foliage and flowers. It is not widely invasive, and most taxa are not prominent in global horticulture.

Population pressures, habitat fragmentation, and collection for wood are local conservation concerns; taxonomic resolution for the South Asian element remains a priority, and targeted genetic sampling across the African taxa would clarify species limits and phylogeography. POWO, 2024; WFO, 2024; Green, 2004; Wallander & Albert, 2000; FTEA (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2023).

Pick a Species to see its components: