Osmanthus fragrans (fragrant olive)

Native from the Himalaya (where it is found at 1,200–3,000 m above sea level) to China, Indochina and south Japan: also commonly cultivated in China, Taiwan and south Japan.

A large, upright shrub or small tree in the wild, with finely-toothed, evergreen, glossy dark green leaves, 7–15 cm long and 2–5 cm wide. The flowers are small (5 mm long), creamy-white (or orange-coloured in Osmanthus fragrans var. aurantiacus), strongly fragrant, four-petalled and are borne in stalked clusters, from summer to autumn. The fruits are bluish berries up to 12 mm long.

Hand-coloured lithograph of Osmanthus fragrans by Lilian Snelling (1928), taken from Curtis's Botanical Magazine (Image: RBG Kew)

Curtis’s Botanical Magazine (Editor: Martyn Rix) provides an international forum of particular interest to botanists and horticulturists, plant ecologists and those with a special interest in botanical illustration.

 Now well over two hundred years old, the Magazine is the longest running botanical periodical featuring colour illustrations of plants. Each four-part volume contains 24 plant portraits reproduced from watercolour originals by leading international botanical artists. Detailed but accessible articles combine horticultural and botanical information, history, conservation and economic uses of the plants described.

Published for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew by Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.
See the Wiley-Blackwell Subscription Information page for rates (for both print and online).

Osmanthus fragrans has a long history of use in herbal medicine, and is used in perfumery and as a flavouring. The flowers are used to make a scented jam and tea (hence its common name, tea olive), and in traditional herbal medicine a decoction of the stem bark is used to treat boils and carbuncles. The essential oil has insect-repelling properties.

Kew's Millennium Seed Bank Partnership aims to save plant life worldwide, focusing on plants under threat and those of most use in the future. Seeds are dried, packaged and stored at a sub-zero temperature in our seed bank vault.

Description of seeds: Average 1,000 seed weight = 174.95 g.
Number of seed collections stored in the Millennium Seed Bank: None.

Fragrant olive can form a tree up to 6 m high and wide, and so needs plenty of room to grow, though is often trained as a small, standard tree. It is hardy to -5°C for short periods, but in cooler areas, such as Britain, it is best grown in a glasshouse or conservatory, or against a warm wall.

Osmanthus fragrans was first introduced to Europe in 1789, when it was brought to Kew as Olea fragrans, but this early introduction was from southern China, and did not thrive or flower well in England.

Fragrant olive can be seen growing in the Temperate House at Kew.

Specimens of wood from Osmanthus fragrans are held in Kew’s Economic Botany Collection, where they are available to researchers, by appointment.

Search Kew’s science databases for more information on this species

Flora of China: Osmanthus fragrans

Curtis’s Botanical Magazine (Wiley-Blackwell)