The Oleaceae are a family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales. It presently comprises 26 genera, one of, extinct; the 25 extant genera include Cartrema, resurrected in 2012. The number of species in the Oleaceae is variously estimated in a wide range around 700; the Oleaceae consist of shrubs, a few lianas. The flowers are numerous and odoriferous; the family has a subcosmopolitan distribution, ranging from the subarctic to the southernmost parts of Africa and South America. Notable members of the Oleaceae include olive, ash and several popular ornamental plants including privet, forsythia and lilac; the following list contains all 25 genera recognized in the most recent revision of the family. It includes Cartrema, the name of, resurrected in 2012. Linociera is not included though some authors continue to recognize it. Linociera is not easy to distinguish from Chionanthus because the latter is polyphyletic and not defined. Tribe Myxopyreae Myxopyrum Blume Dimetra Kerr Nyctanthes L. Tribe Forsythieae Abeliophyllum Nakai – white forsythia Forsythia Vahl – forsythia Tribe Fontanesieae Fontanesia Labill.

Tribe Jasmineae Menodora Humb. & Bonpl. Jasminum L. – jasmine Tribe Oleeae Subtribe Ligustrinae Syringa L. – lilac Ligustrum L. – privet Subtribe Schreberinae Comoranthus Knobl. Schrebera Roxb. Subtribe Fraxininae Fraxinus L. – ash Subtribe Oleinae Cartrema Raf. Chionanthus L. – fringe tree Forestiera Poir. – swamp privet Haenianthus Griseb. Hesperelaea † A. Gray Nestegis Raf. Noronhia Stadman ex Thouars Notelaea Vent. Olea L. – olive Osmanthus Lour. – osmanthus Phillyrea L. – mock-privet Picconia D. C. Priogymnanthus P. S. Green The type genus for Oleaceae is the olives. Recent classifications recognize no subfamilies; the distinctiveness of each tribe has been supported in molecular phylogenetic studies, but the relationships among the tribes were not clarified until 2014. The phylogenetic tree for Oleaceae is a 5-grade; the major centers of diversity for Oleaceae are in Southeast Australia. There are a significant number of species in Africa and North America. In the tropics the family is represented in a variety of habitats, from low-lying dry forest to montane cloud forest.

In Oleaceae, the seed dispersal is entirely by wind or animals. In the case that the fruit is a berry, the species is dispersed by birds; the wind-dispersed fruits are samaras. Some of the older works have recognized as many as 29 genera in Oleaceae. Today, most authors recognize 25 or 26, but this number will change because some of these genera have been shown to be polyphyletic. Estimates of the number of species in Oleaceae have ranged from 600 to 900. Most of the species number discrepancy is due to the genus Jasminum in which as few as 200 or as many as 450 species have been accepted. In spite of the sparsity of the fossil record, the inaccuracy of molecular-clock dating, it is clear that Oleaceae is an ancient family that became distributed early in its history; some of the genera are believed to be relictual populations that remained unchanged over long periods because of isolation imposed by geographical barriers like the low-elevation areas that separate mountain peaks. Members of the family Oleaceae are woody plants trees and shrubs.

Some of the shrubs are scandent. Leaves without stipules; the family is characterized by opposite leaves. Alternate or whorled arrangements are observed, with some Jasminum species presenting a spiral configuration; the laminas can be serrate, dentate or entire at the margin. Domatia are observed in certain taxa; the leaves may be either deciduous or evergreen, with evergreen species predominating in warm temperate and tropical regions, deciduous species predominating in colder regions. The flowers are most bisexual and actinomorphic, occurring in racemes or panicles, fragrant; the calyx and corolla, when present, are gamosepalous and gamopetalous their lobes connate, at least at the base. The androecium has 2 stamens; these are inserted on the corolla alternate with the corolla lobes. The stigmas are two-lobed; the gynoecium consists of a compound pistil with two carpels. The ovary is superior with two locules; the placentation is axile. Ovules 2 per locule. Nectary disk, when present, encircling the base of the ovary.

The plants are most hermaphrodite but sometimes polygamomonoecious. The fruit can be a berry, capsule or samaras; the obvious feature that distinguishes Oleaceae and its sister family, from all others, is the fact that while the flowers are actinomorphic, the number of stamens is reduced to two. Many members of the family are economically significant; the olive is important for the olive oil extracted from it. The ashes are valued for their tough wood. Forsythias, jasmines, osmanthuses and fringe trees are valued as ornamental plants in gardens and landscaping. At least two species of jasmine are the source of an essential oil, their flowers are added to tea. Carl Linnaeus named eight of the genera of Oleaceae in 1753 in his Species Plantarum, he did not designate what we now know as plant families, but placed his genera in artificial groups for purposes of identification. After the work of Linnaeus, names for groups that included the genera of Oleaceae were used, but none of them was a valid publication of the

Henrietta Liston was a British botanist and wife of diplomat Robert Liston. The National Library of Scotland has digitized her journals. Born in Antigua to a Scottish planter Nathaniel Marchant and his wife Sarah Nanton, Henrietta Marchant was baptized on 17 March 1752. Five of her siblings perished in their infancy, she lost her parents when she was eight and moved along with her brothers to her maternal aunt's residence in Glasgow. She married diplomat Robert Liston on 27 February 1796 and the couple arrived in the United States in 1796. While in the US, Henrietta Liston visited 16 states, collected botanical specimens and established friendship with George Washington and John Adams, of whom her diaries contain favourable impressions, she and her husband are credited with preparing an early foundation for the long-term "Special Relationship" between the United States and United Kingdom. The couple left the US in December 1800 and Henrietta accompanied her husband to Hague, Istanbul etc, their residence Millburn Tower in Ratho was built to the design of architect William Atkinson.

It was here that she established her American garden and grew exotic plants from America and the Mediterranean. While the Listons were in Constantinople, William Ramsay McNab of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh took care of her garden. Liston was buried in Gogar, Edinburgh, she was survived by her husband. Her journals provide deep insight into the intellectual current. A book on her diaries and journals The Travel Journals of Henrietta Marchant Liston: North America and Lower Canada, 1796-1800, edited by L. V. North was published in 2014. On 2017 International Women's Day, the National Library of Scotland made a selection of her papers relating to her time in America available online; the North American journeys of a diplomat's wife at the National Library of Scotland

Minor Elegance is a 1990 studio album by Joe Diorio and Robben Ford. Recorded mixed at the MGI Records Studios Munich. All compositions written by Joe Diorio except "Swank Thing" by Robben Ford, "Soul Eyes" by Mal Waldron, "So What" by Miles Davis. Swank Thing - 5:48 AM, PM - 5:34 E-minor Ballad - 6:36 Unis - 5:14 Blues for all Space Cadets - 6:36 Soul Eyes - 5:00 So What - 8:26 Joe Diorio - Guitar Robben Ford - Guitar Gary Willis - Bass Peter Erskine - Drums Oliver Hahn - piano and keyboards on "Swank Thing" and "Unis". Horst Polland & Andreas Vahsen - Producer, Mix Larry Mah - Engineer Thomas Ossig - Cover FR Images - Photography