INAT. ORDER 



Oleacece. 



OLEA EUROPCEA, EUROPEAN OLIVE TREE. 



Class II. DiANDRiA. Order I. Monogynia. 



Gen. Char. Corolla, four-cleft, with sub-ovate segments. Drupe, 



one-seeded. 

 Spe. Char. Leaves, lanceolate, quite entire. 



This tree usually rises about twenty feet in height, and 

 sends off' numerous long branches, covered with bark of a grayish 

 color ; the lea/oes are firm, narrow, lance-shaped, entire, on the up- 

 per side of a bright green, on the under whitish, and stand in 

 pairs, upon short footstalks ; thejlowers are small, white, numerous, 

 and proceed in clusters near the footstalks of the leaves ; the ca- 

 lyx is tubular, and divided at the brim into four small, erect, de- 

 ciduous segments ; the corolla is a funnel-shaped petal, consisting 

 of a short tube, about the length of the calyx, and divided at the 

 border into four semi-ovate segments; \\\e filaments are two, ta- 

 pering, opposite, and crowned with erect anthers ; the germen is 

 round, and supports a simple, short style, furnished with a stigma, 

 which is cleft in two, and each division notched at the apex ; the 

 fruit is of the drupous kind, of an oblong or oval shape, contain- 

 ing a nut of the same form. It is a native of the south of Europe, 

 and also of the north of Africa; and flowers from June till 

 August. 



The Olive, in all ages, has been greatly celebrated, and held 

 in peculiar estimation, as the bounteous gift of Heaven ; and in 

 gratitude to the Deity, it was formerly exhibited in the religious 



Vol. li.— 130. 



