Olive

:For alternate senses of this word see olive (disambiguation).

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The Olive (Olea europaea) is a species of small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean region, from Syria and the maritime parts of Asia Minor. It is also thought to be indigenous in Greece. Olive trees shows a marked preference for calcareous soils and a partiality for the sea breeze, flourishing best on limestone slopes and crags.

Related Topics:
Species - Tree - Family - Oleaceae - Mediterranean - Syria - Asia Minor - Greece - Calcareous - Soil - Limestone

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The natural wild Olive is a small tree or shrub to 8 m tall with rather straggling growth and thorny branches. The leaves are opposite, oblong pointed, 4-10 cm long and 1-3 cm broad, dark greyish-green above and, in the young state, hoary beneath with whitish scales. The small white flowers, with four-cleft calyx and corolla, two stamens and bifid stigma, are borne generally on the last year's wood, in racemes springing from the axils of the leaves. The fruit in the wild plant is small drupe 1-2 cm long, and the fleshy pericarp, which gives the cultivated olive its economic value, is comparatively thin.

Related Topics:
Leaves - Flower - Calyx - Corolla - Stamen - Stigma - Raceme - Axil - Fruit - Drupe - Pericarp

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