biology

Olea capensis

Olea capensis is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Olea capensis rather than just read about it. In short: Olea capensis, the black ironwood, is an African tree species in the olive family Oleaceae. It is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa: from the east in Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan, south to the tip of South Africa, and west to Cameroon, Sierra Leone and the islands of the Gulf of Guinea, as well as Madagascar and the Comoros.

Key takeaways

Olea capensis belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Olea capensis to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Olea capensis from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Olea capensis, the black ironwood, is an African tree species in the olive family Oleaceae. It is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa: from the east in Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan, south to the tip of South Africa, and west to Cameroon, Sierra Leone and the islands of the Gulf of Guinea, as well as Madagascar and the Comoros. It occurs in bush, littoral scrub and evergreen forest. Other common names in English include ironwood, ironwood olive, East African olive and Elgon olive.

Description The black ironwood is a bushy shrub, or a small to medium-sized tree, up to 10 metres (33 ft) in height, occasionally reaching 40 metres (130 ft).

Bark: light grey, becoming dark grey and vertically fissured with age; a characteristic blackish gum is exuded from bark wounds. Leaves: light to dark green and glossy above and paler green below; petiole often purplish, 0.3–1.7 cm long; lanceolate-oblong to almost circular, 3–10 x 1.5–5 cm. Flowers: white or cream and sweetly scented, small and in many flowered axillary or terminal heads, bisexual, 3–15 cm long. Fruit: when ripe they are somewhat succulent purplish drupes; ovoid up to 2 x 1 cm.

Subspecies The species has been divided into 3 subspecies:

Olea capensis subsp. macrocarpa: flowers in lax heads, fruits oblong to elliptic. Olea capensis subsp. capensis: flowers in dense heads, leaves very variable, apex often rounded, and fruits almost spherical to oblong elliptic. Olea capensis subsp. enervis: leaves usually broadly elliptic, apex tapering.

Uses

Food Olea capensis has masses of sweetly scented bisexual flowers that produce large edible fruits.

Timber The wood of the tree is very hard, fine grained, and heavy, and although difficult to work, it is widely used for art and artifacts and is an excellent turnery wood. Guinness World Records lists this tree as the world's heaviest wood, with a specific gravity of 1.49, similar to that of anthracite or dry earth. This causes the wood to sink in water, unlike other wood materials. It is also one of the world's hardest woods according to the Janka hardness test.

Gardens Olea capensis is cultivated as an ornamental tree in parks and gardens.

Gallery

References

External links "Olea capensis". Ecocrop FAO. Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2010-02-09. "Olea capensis subsp. capensis". Aluka. Retrieved 2010-02-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) "Olea capensis subsp. capensis". Fernkloof Nature Reserve. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-02-09. Media related to Olea capensis at Wikimedia Commons

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Olea capensis

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Olea capensis claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Olea capensis before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Olea capensis ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Olea capensis

In research: Olea capensis appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Olea capensis in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Olea capensis is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Afromontane flora, Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus, Drought-tolerant trees, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Olea capensis outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Olea capensis in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Olea capensis means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Olea capensis out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Olea capensis in simple terms?

Why does Olea capensis matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Olea capensis?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Olea capensis.