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.

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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.

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Species: In biology, the most commonly used definition of species was first coined by Ernst Mayr. Species are "groups of actually or potentially interbreeding natural populations which are reproductively isolated from other such groups" (however, see other definitions of species below)....

Tree: :This article is about the biological organisms known as trees. For other meanings of the word see tree (disambiguation)....

Family: :This article is about the human domestic group. For other uses, see Family (disambiguation)....

Olive related Images and Photos (experimental)

Olive Branch I	Olive Oyl Cutout	Olive Trees c.1889	Olive Branch III
Jason Olive	Martini Olive	Popeye Olive Oyl Olive Oil Bottle	Olive Perpetual Agenda
Bertolli Olive Oil	Tuscan Olive Grove	Aromatic Olive Oil	Tuscan Olive Grove