67 
OLEA EUROPCEA. 
The Olive Tree.* 
Class DiANDRiA. — Order Monogynia. 
Nat. Ord. SEPiARiiE, Linn. JasminK/E, Juss. 
Gen, Char. Corolla 4-cIeft. Segments sub-ovate. 
Drupe one seeded. 
Spec. Char. Leaves lanceolate, entire, pale underneath. 
Clusters axillary, dense. 
This species f of olive has received its specific name either 
from its being a native of, or from its extensive cultivation in 
Europe. It is now ranked among- the plants indigenous to the South 
of Europe ; although some botanists have supposed it to be a native 
of Asia, but from time immemorial naturalized in Europe, where it 
now grows spontaneously, delighting in a rocky soil. 
The olive has been long cultivated in Britain ;I we find it men- 
tioned in the Catalogus Plantarum Horti Medici Oxoniensis, pub- 
lished in 1648 ; and when sufficiently sheltered it bears the cold of oar 
ordinary winters tolerably well.§ 
This tree usually rises to the height of about twenty feet, sending 
off numerous long branches, covered with a bark of a greyish colour ; 
the leaves are firm, narrow, lance-shaped, entire, on the upper side 
of a bright green, Beneath whitish, and stand in pairs upon short 
footstalks; the flowers are small, white, numerous, and proceed in 
clusters near the footstalk of the leaves ; the calyx is tubular, and 
divided at the brim into four small, erect, deciduous segments ; the 
corolla is a funnel-shaped petal, consisting of a short tube about the 
length of the calyx, and divided at the border into four semi-ovate 
segments; the filaments are two, tapering, opposite, and crowned 
* Fig. a. represents a cutting of the natural size. h. Ttie ripe fruit. c. Tbe pis- 
tillum. d. A magnified anther. «. The calyx. /. The nut. 
+ Seven species are enumerated in the Hort. Cant. 
% Since the Year 1570. Hort. Cant. 
§ Vide Miller. 
