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Trees- ShrubsOlive Tree (Olea europaea)
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The genus Olea contains evergreen shrubs that have oily, one fruited leaves (1). Olea europaea is a bush or tree, up to 15 m high (1). Its lance shaped leaves (2) are arranged oppositely and are ashy grey below and dark green on top. The flower corolla is white with a short tube which does not exceed the white calyx. The fruit is a large ovoid large drupe, with an oily pericarp (1). The olive produced is green and ripens to black (2).
It is a very slow growing evergreen tree and can grow to a very large age (3). It flowers between April and June (1).
It likes low elevations (4) in full sunlight. It will tolerate most soil types but prefers loamy to sandy soils that are well drained (5).
It grows almost everywhere in Greece (2) and throughout the Mediterranean region (3).
Description written by Amy Trayler (2009)
(1) The free dictionary (2009) genus Olea [online] Available:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/genus+Olea [date accessed: 07/05/2009]
(2) Sfikas. G. (2001) Trees and Shrubs of Greece, Efstathiadis Group S.A., Greece
(3) BBC Gardening (2009) Olive [online] Available:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plant_finder/plant_pages/11275.shtml [date accessed: 07/05/2009]
(4) Efthimiou. E. M. (2001) Plants of Cyprus, Walking around the Cape Greco, Paralimni, Famagusta
(5) Shoot (2009) Black Olive Olea europaea [online] Available:
http://www.shootgardening.co.uk/sitePlant.php?plantid=801 [date accessed: 07/05/2009]
