Olive
Olea europaea
Some olive trees in the Mediterranean are verified to be over 2,000 to 3,000 years old, and they still produce fruit to this day.
- Scientific name
- Olea europaea
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Lamiales › Oleaceae › Olea
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- forest
- Habitat
- Mediterranean basin woodlands, scrublands (maquis), rocky hillsides, and cultivated groves.
- Diet
- Autotrophic (photosynthesis requiring sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide).
- Range
- Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Morocco, United States, Australia
- Size
- 8 to 15 meters (26 to 49 feet) tall
- Lifespan
- 500 to 3,000+ years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Xylella fastidiosa (bacterial disease), olive fruit fly, climate-induced extreme droughts, and habitat conversion.
- Safe to approach?
- Completely harmless and safe to approach. You can touch the rough, ancient bark and smooth, silvery leaves. Note that raw olives straight from the branch are incredibly bitter and unpalatable due to the compound oleuropein; they must be cured before eating. Olive pollen can trigger seasonal allergies in spring.
The olive , known by the botanical name Olea europaea , meaning "European olive", is a species of small tree in the family Oleaceae, found in the Mediterranean Basin from Portugal to the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula, and southern Asia as far east as China, as well as the Canary Islands and Réunion. The species is cultivated in many places and considered naturalized in all the countries of the Mediterranean coast, as well as in Argentina, Saudi Arabia,...
Photo: viridian, CC0, via iNaturalist
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