Maytenus is a genus of flowering plants in the staff vine family, Celastraceae. Members of the genus are distributed throughout Central and South America, Southeast Asia, Micronesia and Australasia, the Indian Ocean and Africa. They grow in a very wide variety of climates, from tropical to subpolar.

Maytenus oleoides is a handsome tree with a deep green, dense, rounded crown and stout trunk, a good choice for today’s smaller gardens as it develops the proportions of a massive tree yet does not get much taller than 4 or 5 m. With its dense, spreading, rounded crown of deep green leaves contrasting with the ash-grey corky bark, Maytenus oleoides makes a handsome specimen on a lawn. It is an excellent tree for medium to small gardens because it has the shape of a big shade tree yet is only 4 m tall. It also makes a good bonsai tree.