172 OLEA EUROPJ3A 



of the calyx, with 2 pendulous ovules in each cell ; style short, 

 stigma bifid. Fruit a drupe, from \ 1 inch in length, ovoid, 

 usually pointed at apex, deep purple or nearly black ; sarcocarp 

 firm, fleshy, filled with oil ; stone (putamen) thick, bony, narrowly 

 ovoid, with a blunt keel down one side, acuminate, containing a 

 single seed. Testa thin, membranous, veiny ; raphe very dis- 

 tinct, running up one side within the putamen, and perforating its 

 base ; embryo straight, in axis of endosperm, cotyledons foliaceous, 

 radicle superior. 



Habitat. The native country of the olive has been pretty 

 certainly determined to be Asia Minor and Syria, but it has been 

 a cultivated plant in parts of the Mediterranean region from very 

 early times. At the present day very extensive districts are 

 devoted to olive culture in Portugal, Spain, Italy, the South of 

 France, and Algeria, and the tree is frequently found apparently 

 wild in these and other countries. The olive orchards, covering 

 many square miles of country, give a distinct character to large 

 tracts of Spain and Italy. The trees are usually pollarded, and 

 have none of the beauty of those left to grow naturally. The 

 olive was long ago introduced into Peru and Chili. In England 

 it flowers freely enough, and under favorable circumstances will 

 even produce fruit, as in the late D. Hanbury's garden at Clapham 

 Common, near London. It is hardier than the lemon. 



As with other cultivated fruits there are several varieties of the 

 olive; the largest are produced in Spain; in the wild state the 

 fruit is very bitter. The tree flowers in spring and early summer, 

 and the fruit is fully ripe in November. 



DC.Prod.,viii,p.284; Bertoloni, Fl. ItaL, i, p. 45 ; Gren.&Godr., 

 PI. France, ii, p. 474; Lindl., Fl. Med., p. 547. 



Official Part and Name. OLEUM OLIV^;. The oil expressed in 

 the south of Europe from the ripe fruit (B. P.). The oil expressed 

 from the fruit (Oliva Oleum, Olive Oil) (I. P.). OLEUM OLIVJE. 

 The fixed oil obtained from the fruit (U. S. P.). 



Production, Commerce, and Varieties. The ripe fruits which are 



