THE OLIVE 



21 



Asia. 



Eebope. 



Olea, salicifolia, India, 

 " dioica, 



" cuspidata, Afghanistan. 

 " compacta, India. 

 " acuminata, longifolia, India, 

 " roxburghiana, India, eastern. 

 u heyneana, 



" glandulifera, Nepaul, India. 

 " acuminata, " 



" Europea ; North Asia Minor, Syria, Kurdistan, 

 Transcaucasia, North Persia, southern coast of 

 Caspian sea, the southeast of Arabian penin- 

 sula. 



Olea Europea ; the Mediterranean coast and Portugal 



The Olea Americana is known to the lumbermen of the Carolinas 

 and Florida as devil- wood, the grain of the wood being so hard as to 

 resist ordinary tools. 



The berry of the Olea Fragrans of China is candied and used 

 anions; the Chinese as a sweet, and the flowers to flavor and adulter- 

 ate the finer kinds of teas. 



The above enumeration is given chiefly as a curiosity, The spe- 

 cies of interest to us is the Olea Europea, this being the only vari- 

 ety that has as yet repaid man's care by the increased size and 

 weight of its berry. (See Plate I). 



The olive {Olea Europea of Linneus), according to De Candolle, 

 belongs to order CXXVII of the Oleaceae, to the tribe III of the 

 Oleineae, to the genus VI, Olea, to the species N. 2, Europea, and 

 was so called by Linneus to indicate that its home is there, that 

 there it is cultivated by choice and has been held in honor from 

 remotest antiquity. Some consider the name inappropriate on the 

 ground that the olive was brought from Asia, but Caruso holds it 

 to be correct because he believes it to be a native of Europe and 

 the culture, only, brought from Asia. 



YV e propose now to endeavor to classify the varieties of the Olea 

 Europea in a brief and comprehensive manner. 



It is evident that great confusion exists in the nomenclature of 



