Shrub to 4 m or so tall. Leaves to 5 cm or so long, entire or toothed, ovate to elliptic or irregular, leathery, with up to 5 large spiny teeth per side. Flowers white, fragrant; late summer. [O. ilicifolius (Hassk.) Carr.]
Japan, Taiwan
Green & Keenan (1959).
Source: (2002). Oleaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
Osmanthus heterophyllus 'Aureomarginatus'
Leaf margins with yellow variegation. ['Aureus']
Originating before 1877.
Osmanthus heterophyllus 'Purpureus'
A frost-hardy cultivar with new growth blackish purple.
Raised Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 1880.
Osmanthus heterophyllus 'Variegatus'
Leaves smaller than the type, variegated with creamy white margins. ['Argenteomarginatus']
Originating before 1861.