308 LI. OLEINE^. [Oka. 



florescence, the upper side of the leaves deep glossy green, not grey or dull green, 

 as in the Mediterranean tree, the under side red or ferruginous instead of white, 

 smaller fruit, the absence of spines, and a more distinctly marked heartwood. 

 These, it is true, are not characters to which systematic botanists commonly 

 attach much value, but the appearance of the trees is different, and there is this 

 important fact, that though the tree is common in Sindh and the hills of the 

 Panjab, there is no trace of its ever having been cultivated, and the fruit turned 

 to account on a large scale in those countries. Should eventually intermediate 

 forms be discovered, and should botanists agree to regard the Indian and West 

 Asiatic tree as one species, then the remarkable fact will hav^ to be explained 

 that the art of improving the tree by cultivation, and grafting it, was not prac- 

 tised in the Panjab at an early age. In Palestine the Olive tree has been cul- 

 tivated from time immemorial for the sake of its oil, and in Greece also its cul- 

 tivation is very old, for Solon (early in the sixth century, B.C.) enacted laws 

 regarding the growth of the Fig and the Olive. The tree is indigenous in Syria, 

 and probably in Greece also. Greek colonists carried the tree westward, to Italy, 

 Istna, Spain, and the South of Prance, and thus the Olive has" gradually become 

 completely naturalised in the western Mediterranean region, for it spreads readily, 

 and the self-sown or bird-sown seedlings revert more or less to the wild form. 

 The eastward spread of the Olive has been much less marked. At the time of 

 Herodotus, in the fifth century, B.C., the Olive was not known in Persia, and in 

 India the attempts made to grow the Mediterranean Olive are of recent date, and 

 have not hitherto been successful. The real OUve is called Zaitun in Persian 

 and Arabic ; it has no Sanskrit name, and Olive oil is not mentioned by old 

 Sanskrit writers. Few subjects are more interesting than the spread of the cul- 

 tivation of this useful tree, and the interest is heightened by the close affinity of 

 the West Asiatic and Indian species. 



The Indian tree grows gregariously, the leaves are shed in January and 

 February, and are renewed immediately afterwards. It flowers from April 

 to May, sometimes in September ; the fruit ripens Aug.-Nov. The growth 

 is slow. The tree is often kept down by lopping, but when it gets fair play 

 and some protection it attains a considerable size, 30-40, rarely 50 ft., with 

 a short massive trunk, often gnarled and bent, girth 6, at times 10-12 ft. 

 Branches stiff, crooked, widespreading, forming a broad depressed rounded 

 crown. The foliage is deep glossy green. The branches are always un- 

 armed, whereas they are often spinesoent on the wild OUve of the Medi- 

 terranean region. Bark thin, smoothish, undulated while young, when old 

 exfoliating in long irregular narrow strips. Heartwood with a weU-defirfed 

 outline, dark brown, often nearly black and beautifully mottled. Sapwood 

 yellowish. The wood of the Mediterranean tree is yellowish brown, irre- 

 gularly mottled and veined with dark blackish-brown veins. In weight and 

 structure there seems to be no marked difference. Wood from Sindh weighs 

 65 lb., and this is about the weight of the Mediterranean wood. The medul- 

 lary rays are fine and very close together ; the wood is marked by numerous 

 whitish dots generally arranged in wavy concentric lines. Annual rings not 

 very distinct, often marked by a dark line without dots. The wood takes a 

 beautiful polish, is very hard, is highly prized for turning, for crooked tim- 

 bers of the Indus boats, and agricultural implements ; combs are carved of it. 

 It yields excellent fuel, and makes good charcoal. The fruit is a favourite food 

 of crows, and ripe fruit is not often seen on the trees. The pericarp is oily, like 

 that of the real OUve tree. In Afghanistan oil is extracted from the indigenous 

 tree in a smaU way, and used medicinaUy (Irvine, BeUew), and about 1851 an 

 experiment was made in Kohat to extract oil on a larger scale. The oil was 

 excellent, but the quantity obtained was insuflicient to repay an extension of the 

 process. So much, however, is clear, that oil can be made from the fruit of the 



