PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR FRUITS. 28 



o 



to Tunis and into Egypt tlio olive growing wild,* although 

 it is cultivated in the oases. In Egypt it is only culti- 

 vated, accordinoj to Schweinfurth and Ascherson,^ in their 

 resume of the Flora of the Nile Valley. 



Its prehistoric area probably extended from Syria 

 towards Greece, for the wild olive is very common along the 

 southern coast of Asia Minor, where it forms reo-ular 

 woods.^ It is doubtless here and in the archipelago that 

 the Greeks early knew the tree. If they had not known 

 it on their own territory, had received it from the 

 Semites, they would not have given it a special name, 

 elaia, whence the Latin olea. The Iliad and the Odyssey 

 mention the hardness of the olive wood and the practice 

 of anointing the body with olive oil. The latter was in 

 constant use for food and lighting. Mythology attributed 

 to Minerva the planting of the olive in Attica, which 

 probably signifies the introduction of cultivated varieties 

 and suitable processes for extracting the oil. Arist?eus 

 introduced or perfected the manner of pressing the fruit. 



The same mythical personage carried, it was said, the 

 olive tree from the north of Greece into Sicily and Sar- 

 dinia. It seems that this may have been early done by 

 the Phoenicians, but in support of the idea that the 

 species, or a perfected variety of it, was introduced by 

 the Greeks, I may mention that the Semitic name seit 

 has left ..no trace in the islands of the Mediterranean. 

 We find the Graeco-Latin name here as in Italy,* while 

 upon the neighbouring coast of Africa, and in Spain, 

 the names are Egyptian or Arabic, as I shall explain 

 directly. 



The Romans knew the olive later than the Greeks. 

 According to Pliny ,^ it was only at the time of Tarquin 

 the Ancient, 627 B.C., but the species probably existed 

 already in Great Greece, as in Greece and Sicily. Besides, 

 Pliny was speaking of the cultivated olive. 



A remarkable fact, and one which has not been noted 



* Kralik, Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr., W. p. lOS. 

 ^ Beitrage zur Ft. Mthio'piens, p. 28L 



8 Balansa, Bull. Soc. Bot. de Fr., iv. p. 107. 



* Moris, Fl. Sard., iii. p. 9 ; Bertoloui, Fl. lial.y i. p. 4G. 



* riiiij, Hist., lib. XV. cap. 1. 



