Ulea europcsttf 



Olivier, 



Oehlbaum, Olivenbaum, 



Olivo, Ulivo, 



Olivo, 



Oliveyra, 



Olive-tree, 



Oka eiiropcca, 

 THE EUROPEAN OLIVE-TREE. 



Si/nonymcs. 



' LiNN^us, Species Plantarum. 



MicHAUx, North American Sylva. 



Don, Miller's Dictionary. 

 ^ Loudon, Arboretum Britaanicum. 



France. 



Germany. 



Italy. 



Spain. 



Portugal. 



Britain and An&lo-Amekica. 



Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pi. 87; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, ii., fig. 1032; and the figure* 

 oelow. 



Specific Characters. Leaves lanceolate, pointed, entire, hoary beneath. Branches angular, not spiny. 

 Lmtdon, Enc. of Plants. 



Description. 



" The trees went forth on a lime to anoint a king over them; 

 and they said to the olive-tree, reign thou over ufl." 



Judges, ix. 8. 



P!^^^HE Olea europgea, 

 "p [^ in its general ap- 



1^ J ^ pearance, is a tree 



^^^^ bearing considera- 

 ble resemblance to the common willow, which 

 has been lopped, and acquired a new summit 

 of three or four years' growth. It seldom ex- 

 ceeds thirty feet in height, with a trunk two 

 feet in diameter, and frequently it does not 

 attain one half of these dimensions. It rami- 

 fies at a small height from the ground, and 

 forms a compact summit. The bark of the 

 trunk and branches, when young, is smooth, 

 of an ashy hue, and when the epidermis is 

 removed, the cellular integument appears of a 

 light-green. On old trees, the bark upon the 

 trunk, and upon the base of the principal limbs, is brown, rough, and deeply 

 furrowed. In spring and autumn, when the sap is in motion, the bark is easily 

 detached from the body of the tree. The main limbs are numerously divided, 

 with their branchlets opposite, and in pairs, alternately placed upon conjugate 

 axes. The foliage is of a pale, impoverished evergreen verdure, but a part of it 

 turns yellow, and falls in the summer, and in tiiree years it is completely renewed. 

 In spring or early autumn, when the vegetation of this tree is in its greatest activ- 

 ity, the young leaves put forth directly above the cicatrix of the former leaf- 

 stalks, and arc distinguisiied by their suppleness, and by the freshness of their 

 tint. The colour of the leaves varies in the different varieties of this species, but 

 they are generally smooth, of a light-green above, and whitish or glaucous and 

 somewhat downy, with a prominent midrib, beneath. On most of the culti- 

 vated varieties, they are from an hich and a half to two inches long, and from 



