IS AT. ORDER, 
Oleacem. 
OLEA EUROPGEA. EUROPEAN OLIVE TREE. 
Class II. DiANDRiA. Order I. Monogynia. 
Gen. Char. Corolla, four-cleft, with sub-ovate segments. Drupe, 
one-seeded. 
Spe. Char. Leaves, lanceolate, quite entire. 
This tree usually rises about twenty feet in height, and 
sends off numerous long branches, covered with bark of a grayish 
color ; the leaves are firm, narrow, lance-shaped, entire, on the up- 
per side of a bright green, on the under whitish, and stand in 
pairs, upon short footstalks ; the Jlowers are small, white, numerous, 
and proceed in clusters near the footstalks of the leaves ; the ca- 
lyx is tubular, and divided at the brim into four small, erect, de- 
ciduous 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, ta- 
pering, opposite, and crowned with erect anthers ; the gernien is 
round, and supports a simple, short style, furnished with a stigma, 
which is cleft in two, and each division notched at the apex ; the 
fruit is of the drupous kind, of an oblong or oval shape, contain- 
ing a nut of the same form. It is a native of the south of E urope, 
and also of the north of Africa ; and flowers from June till 
August. 
The Olive, in all ages, has been greatly celebrated, and held 
in peculiar estimation, as the bounteous gift of Heaven ; and in 
gratitude to the Deity, it was formerly exhibited in the religious 
Vol. li.— 130. 
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