Herbariuma Backpackers project
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Olive tree

Olea europaea

Family · Oleaceae · Harmless

Edible
Olive tree (Olea europaea)Olive tree (Olea europaea)
Palauenc05, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Palauenc05, CC BY-SA 4.0

The tree that defines the Mediterranean and half of inland Portugal. The wild form, the acebuche, is spiny and small-leaved; the cultivated one is the same species, domesticated for millennia.

Where it grows

Montado · Fields and pasture · Scrubland · Walls and rocks

Also known as

wild olive, olive

In flower
In fruit

How to tell it

A narrow leathery leaf, grey-green above and clearly silvery beneath, set in opposite pairs. A twisted, knotted trunk in old trees.

What it is confused with

Oleander

Nerium oleander

Confusion that poisons

Oleander has a bigger leaf, green on both sides and in threes; olive has a silvery underside and grows in pairs. And oleander bleeds latex when broken, olive does not.

Open sheet →

What it is for

Oil and table olives, always after curing: the raw olive is unbearably bitter, and that bitterness is what makes it safe to recognise.

Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.

Sources