Ulea europcea. 
Olivier, 
Oehlbaum, Olivenbaum, 
Olivo, Ulivo, 
Olivo, 
Oliveyra, 
Olive-tree, 
Oka europma, 
THE EUROPEAN OLIVE-TREE. 
Synonymes. 
'Linn-eus, Species Plantarum. 
Michaux, North American Sylva. 
Don, Miller's Dictionary. 
k Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 
France. 
Germany. 
Italy. 
Spain. 
Portugal. 
Britain and Anglo- America. 
Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pi. 87; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, ii., fig. 1032: and the fieurea 
Oelow. 
Specific Characters. Leaves lanceolate, pointed, entire, hoary beneath. Branches angular, not spiny. 
Loudon, Enc. of Plants. 
Description. 
" The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them ; 
and they said to the olive-tree, reign thou over ua." 
Judges, ix. 8. 
zjWMHE Olea europsea, 
RJ h H ci in its general ap- 
Vi U ftS pearance, is a tree 
M^ra 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 three 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 are distinguished 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 inch and a half to two inches long, and from 
