53 



L.UCQUES.* 



(Figure No. 6, Plate IV.) 



Synonymes. — Olive de Lucques, Lucquoise (Basses-Alpes). Oliverolle (Beziers). Odor- 

 ante. Olea minor, Lucensis, fructu oblongo, incuvo, odorato (Tournefort). Olea europaea 

 ceraticarpa (Clemerite). 



DESCRIPTION. 



Tree of middling vigor and development; semi-erect; cylindrical trunk; the 

 bark comes off easily in long strips, so that the trunk is often almost entirely 

 laid bare; the main limbs are either horizontal or erect; as a whole, the 

 tree habitually takes the shape of a vase, a ball, or sometimes of an umbrella, 

 according to the mode of trimming; shoots scarce; branches hardy, long, 

 straight, erect, or horizontal; young branches pretty numerous, situated 

 upon the limbs at a right angle, generally drooping, of a decided gray color, 

 longitudinally striated and covered with great numbers of freckles; wood 

 of hexagon form, especially at the end of young branches; prominent knots. 



Leaf, sublinear lanceolate, pretty long, but narrow (mean length six to 

 nine centim., width three fourths to one and one fourth centim.) ; upper face 

 light green, dull, somewhat wrinkled ; under face covered with a dirty white 

 thin coating; limbs not very thick ; nerves little marked, even on upper 

 face; Mucron acute, short, bent round in the plane of the leaf; Petiole long, 

 thin, bent round. The leaf is drawn back at the edges, it is unequilateral, 

 and assumes the shape of a very much elongated crescent, ending by the 

 Mucron; the cover of the tree is pretty light, owing to the limited number 

 of leaves, their relative smallness, and the divergent disposition of the 

 branches. 



Fruits often isolated, distributed for the most part at the base of the 

 young branches; Peduncle long, thin, entering into a shallow depression of 

 the fruit; Stigma persistent in a well marked umbilic; olive pretty big 

 (length two and one half to three centim., width one and one fourth to one 

 and one half), of the form of a crescent or a keel, having both ends bent 

 round, and the opposite side to the curvature nearly rectilinear, which 

 makes it of a very peculiar shape. The fruit changes from a light green 

 to shining bluish-black; very little hoary; the surface is slightly speckled ; 

 thin skin; abundant pulp; pit pretty big, of similar form as that of the 

 fruit; bent round at both ends, with furrowed surface, ending by two points, 

 the lower being the sharper; fruit ripens early. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



The Lucques is not a very common variety; it is found in large tracts in 

 France only where the propagation of olives for the table forms a special 

 industry. It seems to have originated in Italy, where it grows in several 

 places, notably at Verona. It is commonly found in Languedoc, around 

 Beziers, Montpellier, Nimes, Lunel, but it is little cultivated in Provence, 

 except in the Lower Alps; it is also found in certain parts of the Oriental 

 Pyrenees, whence it was brought to Spain. 



The Lucques is a tolerably vigorous tree, of medium longevity. All 

 writers who have studied this variety consider it as very enduring in cold 

 weather and adapted for cultivation on the extreme boundaries of the olive 

 tree region. It may be found in the most various situations, but it grows 



*Now fruiting at Livermore. 



