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OLIVE (Olea europaea)

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 87 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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OLIVE (Olea europaea) , the plant that yields the olive oil of See also:commerce, belonging to a See also:section of the natural See also:order Oleaceae, of which it has been taken as the type. The genus Olea includes about See also:thirty See also:species, very widely scattered, chiefly over the Old See also:World, from the See also:basin of the Mediterranean to See also:South See also:Africa and New See also:Zealand. The See also:wild olive is a small See also:tree or See also:bush of rather straggling growth, with thorny branches and opposite oblong pointed leaves, dark greyish-See also:green above and, in the See also:young See also:state, hoary beneath with whitish scales; the small See also:white See also:flowers, with four-cleft calyx and corolla, two stamens and bifid stigma, are See also:borne on the last See also:year's See also:wood, in racemes springing from the axils of the leaves; the drupaceous See also:fruit is small in the wild plant, and the fleshy pericarp, which gives the cultivated olive its economic value, is hard and comparatively thin. In the cultivated forms the tree acquires a more compact See also:habit, the branches lose their spinous See also:character, while the young shoots become more or less angular; the leaves are always hoary on the under-See also:side, and are generally lanceolate in shape, though varying,much in breadth and See also:size in the different kinds. The fruit is subject to still greater changes of See also:form and See also:colour; usually See also:oval or nearly globular, in some sorts it is See also:egg-shaped, in others much elongated; while the dark See also:hue that it commonly assumes when ripe is exchanged in many varieties for See also:violet, green or almost white. At See also:present the wild olive is found in most of the countries around the Mediterranean, extending its range on the See also:west to See also:Portugal, and eastward to the vicinity of the See also:Caspian, while, locally, it occurs even in See also:Afghanistan. An undoubted native of See also:Syria and the maritime parts of See also:Asia See also:Minor, its abundance in See also:Greece and the islands of the See also:Archipelago, and the frequent allusions to it by the earliest poets, seem to indicate that it was there also indigenous; but in localities remote from the See also:Levant it may have escaped from cultivation, reverting more or less to its See also:primitive type. It shows a marked preference for calcareous soils and a partiality for the See also:sea-See also:breeze, flourishing with especial luxuriance on the See also:limestone slopes and crags that often form the shores of the See also:Greek See also:peninsula and adjacent islands. The varieties of olive known to the See also:modern See also:cultivator are extremely numerous—according to some authorities equalling or exceeding in number those of the See also:vine. In See also:France and See also:Italy at least thirty kinds have been enumerated, but comparatively few are grown to any large extent. None of these can be safely identified with See also:ancient descriptions, though it is not unlikely that some of the narrow-leaved sorts that are most esteemed may be descendants of the famed " Licinian " (see below). Italy retains its old pre-See also:eminence in olive cultivation; and, though its ancient Gallic See also:province now excels it in the See also:production of the finer See also:oils, its fast-improving culture may restore the old See also:prestige.

The broad-leaved olive trees of See also:

Spain See also:bear a larger fruit, but the pericarp is of more See also:bitter flavour and the oil of ranker quality. The olive tree, even when See also:free increase isunchecked by pruning, is of very slow growth; but, where allowed for ages its natural development, the See also:trunk sometimes attains a considerable See also:diameter. De See also:Candolle records one exceeding 23 ft. in girth, the See also:age being supposed to amount. to seven centuries. Some old See also:Italian See also:olives have been credited with an antiquity reaching back to the first years of the See also:empire, or even to the days of republican See also:Rome; but the age of such ancient trees is always doubtful during growth, and their identity with old descriptions still more difficult to establish. The tree in cultivation rarely exceeds 30 ft. in height, and in France and Italy is generally confined to much'"more limited dimensions by frequent pruning. The wood, of a yellow or See also:light greenish-See also:brown hue, is often finely veined with a darker tint, and, being very hard and See also:close grained, is valued by the cabinetmaker and ornamental See also:turner. The olive is propagated in various ways, but cuttings or layers are generally preferred; the tree roots in favourable See also:soil almost as easily as the See also:willow, and throws up suckers from the stump when cut down. Branches of various thickness are cut into lengths of several feet each, and, planted rather deeply in manured ground, soon vegetate; shorter pieces are sometimes laid horizontally in shallow trenches, when, covered with a few inches of soil, they rapidly throw up sucker-like shoots. In Greece and the islands grafting the cultivated tree on the wild form is a See also:common practice. In Italy embryonic buds, which form small swellings on the stems, are carefully excised and planted beneath the See also:surface, where they grow readily, these " uovoli soon forming a vigorous shoot. Occasionally the larger boughs are inarched, and young trees thus soon obtained. The olive is also sometimes raised from See also:seed, the oily pericarp being first softened by slight rotting, or soaking in hot See also:water or in an alkaline See also:solution, to facilitate germination.

The olives in the See also:

East often receive little See also:attention from the husbandman, the branches being allowed to grow freely and without curtailment by the pruning-See also:knife; water, how-ever, must be supplied in See also:long droughts to ensure a See also:crop; with this neglectful culture the trees bear abundantly only at intervals of three or four years; thus, although wild growth is favourable to the picturesque aspect of the See also:plantation, it is not to be recommended on economic grounds. Where the olive is carefully cultivated, as in See also:Languedoc and See also:Provence, it is planted in rows at See also:regular intervals, the distance between the trees varying in different " olivettes," according to the variety grown. Careful pruning is practised, the See also:object being to preserve the See also:flower-bearing shoots of the preceding year, while keeping the See also:head of the tree See also:low, so as to allow the easy gathering of the fruit; a See also:dome or rounded form is generally the aim of the pruner. The spaces between the trees are occasionally manured with rotten dung or other nitrogenous See also:matter; in France woollen rags are in high esteem for this purpose. Various See also:annual crops are sometimes raised between the rows, and in See also:Calabria See also:wheat even is grown in this way; but the trees are better without any intermediate cropping. Latterly a See also:dwarf variety, very prolific and with green fruit, has come into fvour in certain localities, especially in See also:America, where it is said to have produced a crop two or three seasons after planting. The See also:ordinary kinds do not become profitable to the grower until from five to seven years after the cuttings are placed in the olive-ground. Apart from occasional damage by See also:weather or organic foes, the olive crop is somewhat See also:precarious even with the most careful cultivation, and the large untended trees so often seen in Spain and Italy do not yield that certain income to the See also:peasant proprietor that some authors have attributed to them; the crop from these old trees is often enormous, but they seldom bear well two years in See also:succession, and in many instances a luxuriant See also:harvest can only be reckoned upon every See also:sixth or seventh See also:season. The fruit when ripe is, by the careful grower, picked by See also:hand and deposited in cloths or baskets for See also:conveyance to the See also:mill; but in many parts of Spain and Greece, and generally in Asia, the olives are beaten down by poles or by shaking the boughs, or even allowed to drop naturally, often lying on the ground until the convenience of the owner admits of their removal; much of the inferior oil owes its See also:bad quality to the carelessness of the proprietor of the trees. In See also:southern See also:Europe the olive harvest is in the See also:winter months, continuing for several See also:weeks; but the See also:time varies in each See also:country, and also with the season and the kinds cultivated. The amount of oil contained in the fruit differs much in the various sorts; the pericarp usually yields from 6o to 70 %. The ancient agriculturists believed that the olive would not succeed if planted more than a few leagues from the sea (See also:Theophrastus gives 300 stadia as the limit), but modern experience does not confirm the See also:idea, and, though showing a preference for the See also:coast, it has long been grown far inland.

A calcareous soil, however dry or poor, seems best adapted to its healthy development, though the tree will grow in any light soil, and even on See also:

clay if well drained; but, as remarked by See also:Pliny, the plant is more liable to disease on See also:rich soils, and the oil is inferior to the produce of the poorer and more rocky ground the species naturally affects. The olive suffers greatly in some years from the attacks of various enemies. A fungoid growth has at times infested the trees for several A, Shoot of olive (Olea europaea) (from nature), reduced; B, opened flower; C, See also:vertical section of See also:pistil. B and C enlarged. successive seasons, to the See also:great damage of the plantations. A species of coccus, C. oleae, attaches itself to the shoots, and certain lepidopterous caterpillars feed on the leaves, while the " olive-See also:fly " attacks the fruit. In France the olivettes suffer occasionally ' from See also:frost; in the See also:early See also:part of the 18th See also:century many trees were cut to the ground by a winter of exceptional severity. See also:Gales and long-continued rains during the gathering season also cause See also:mischief. The unripe fruit of the olive is largely used in modern as in ancient times as an See also:article of dessert, to enhance the flavour of See also:wine, and to renew the sensitiveness of the See also:palate for other viands. For this purpose the fruit is picked while green, soaked for a few See also:hours in an alkaline ley, washed well in clean water and then placed in bottles or jars filled with brine; the See also:Romans added amurca to the See also:salt to increase the bitter flavour of the olives, and at the present See also:day spices are sometimes used. The leaves and bark of the tree are employed in the south, as a tonic See also:medicine, in intermittent See also:fever. A resinous matter called " olive See also:gum," or See also:Lucca gum, formed by the exuding juice in hot seasons, was anciently in medical esteem, and in modern Italy is used as a perfume.

In See also:

England the olive is not See also:hardy, though in the southern counties it will stand ordinary winters with only the See also:protection of a See also:wall, and will bear fruit in such situations; but the leaves are generally See also:shed in the autumn, and the olives rarely ripen. The genus Olea includes several other species of some economic importance. 0. paniculata is a larger tree, attaining a height of go or 6o ft. in the forests of See also:Queensland, and yielding a hard and tough See also:timber. The yet harder wood of O. laurifolia, an inhabitant of See also:Natal, is the See also:black See also:ironwood of the South See also:African colonist. At what remote See also:period of human progress the wild olive passed under the care of the husbandman and became the fruitful See also:garden olive it is impossible to conjecture. The frequent reference in the See also:Bible to the plant and its produce, its implied abundance in the See also:land of See also:Canaan, the important See also:place it has always held in the See also:economy of the inhabitants of Syria, See also:lead us to consider that country the birthplace of the cultivated olive. An improved variety, possessed at first by some small Semitic See also:sept, it was probably slowly distributed to adjacent tribes; and, yielding profusely, with little labour, that oily matter so essential to healthy See also:life in the dry, hot climates of the East, the See also:gift of the fruitful tree became in that primitive age a See also:symbol of See also:peace and See also:goodwill among the warlike barbarians. At a later period, with the development of maritime enterprise, the oil was conveyed, as an article of See also:trade, to the neighbouring Pelasgic and Ionian nations, and the plant, doubtless, soon followed. In the Homeric world, as depicted in the Iliad, olive oil is known only as a luxury of the wealthy—an See also:exotic product, prized chiefly for its value in the heroic See also:toilet; the warriors anoint themselves with it after the See also:bath, and the See also:body of Patroclus. is similarly sprinkled; but no mention of the culture of the plant is made, nor does it find any place on the Achillean See also:shield, on which a vineyard is represented. But, although no reference to the cultivation of the olive occurs in the Iliad, the presence of the tree in the garden of See also:Alcinous and other See also:familiar allusions show it to have been known when the Odyssey was written. Whenever the introduction may have taken place, all tradition points to the limestone hills of See also:Attica as the seat of its first cultivation on the Hellenic peninsula. When See also:Poseidon and See also:Athena contended for the future See also:city, an olive sprang from the barren See also:rock at the bidding of the goddess, the See also:patron of those arts that were to bring undying See also:influence to the rising state.

That this myth has some relation to the first planting of the olive in Greece seems certain from the remarkable See also:

story told by See also:Herodotus of the Epidaurians, who, on their crops failing, applied for counsel to the Delphic See also:oracle, and were enjoined to erect statues to Damia and Auxesia (symbols of fertility) carved from the wood of the true garden olive, then possessed only by the Athenians, who granted their See also:request for a tree on See also:condition of their making an annual See also:sacrifice to Athena, its patron; they thus obeyed the command of the Pythian, and their lands became again fertile. The sacred tree of the goddess long stood on the See also:Acropolis, and, though destroyed in the See also:Persian invasion, sprouted again from the See also:root—some suckers of which were said to have produced those olive trees of the See also:Academy in an after age no less revered. By the time of See also:Solon the olive had so spread that he found it necessary to enact See also:laws to regulate the cultivation of the tree in Attica, from which country it was probably distributed gradually to all the Athenian See also:allies and tributary states. To the Ionian coast, where it abounded in the time of Thales, it may have been in an earlier age brought by Phoenician vessels; some of the See also:Sporades may have received it from the same source; the olives of See also:Rhodes and See also:Crete had perhaps a similar origin. See also:Samos, if we may See also:judge from the epithet of See also:Aeschylus (Eaacocbvros), must have had the fruitful plant long before the Persian See also:wars. It is not unlikely that the valued tree was taken to Magna Graecia by the first Achaean colonists, and the assertion of Pliny (quoted from See also:Fenestella), that no olives existed in Italy in the reign of Tarquinius See also:Priscus, must be received with the caution due to many statements of that industrious compiler. In Latin Italy the cultivation seems to have spread slowly, for it was not until the consulship of See also:Pompey that the production of oil became sufficient to permit of its exportation. In Pliny's time it was already grown abundantly in the two Gallic provinces and in Spain; indeed, in the earlier days of See also:Strabo the Ligurians supplied the Alpine barbarians with oil, in See also:exchange for the wild produce of their mountains; the plant may have been introduced into those districts by Greek settlers in a previous age. Africa was indebted for the olive mainly to Semitic agencies. In See also:Egypt the culture never seems to have made much progress; the oil found in Theban tombs was probably imported from Syria. Along the southern See also:shore of the great inland sea the tree was carried by the Phoenicians, at a remote period, to their numerous colonies in Africa—though the abundant olives of See also:Cyrene, to which allusion is made by Theophrastus, and the See also:glaucous foliage of whose descendants still clothes the rocks of the deserted See also:Cyrenaica, may have been the offspring of Greek See also:plants brought by the first settlers. The tree was most likely introduced into southern Spain, and perhaps into See also:Sardinia and the Balearic Islands, by Phoenician merchants; and, if it be true that old olive trees were found in the Canaries on their rediscovery by See also:medieval navigators, the See also:venerable trees probably owed their origin to the same enterprising pioneers of the ancient world.

De Candolle says that the means by which the olive was distributed to the two opposite shores of the Mediterranean are indicated by the names given to the plant by their respective inhabitants—the Greek EXaia passing into the Latin elect and See also:

oliva, that in its turn becoming the ulivo of the modern Italian, the olivo of the Spaniard, and the olive, See also:olivier, of the See also:French, while in Africa and southern Spain the olive retains appellatives derived from the Semitic zaii or seit; but the See also:complete subjugation of See also:Barbary by the See also:Saracens sufficiently accounts for the prevalence of Semitic forms in that region; and aceytuno (Arab. zeitan), the Andalusian name of the fruit, locally given to the tree itself, is but a vestige of the Moorish See also:conquest. Yielding a grateful substitute for the See also:butter and See also:animal fats consumed by the races of the See also:north, the olive, among the southern nations of antiquity, became an See also:emblem not only of peace but of See also:national See also:wealth and domestic plenty; the branches borne in the See also:Panathenaea, the wild olive spray of the Olympic See also:victor, the olive See also:crown of the See also:Roman conqueror at See also:ovation, and those of the See also:equites at their imperial See also:review alike typified gifts of peace that, in a barbarous age, could be secured by victory alone. Among the Greeks the oil was valued as an important article of See also:diet, as well as for its See also:external use. The Roman See also:people employed it largely in See also:food and See also:cookery—the wealthy as an indispensable See also:adjunct to the toilet; and in the luxurious days of the later empire it became a favourite See also:axiom that long and pleasant life depended on two fluids, " wine within and oil without." Pliny vaguely describes fifteen varieties of olive cultivated in his day, that called the " Licinian " being held in most esteem, and the oil obtained from it at See also:Venafrum in See also:Campania the finest known to Roman connoisseurs; the produce of See also:Istria and Baetica was regarded as second only to that of the Italian peninsula. The See also:gourmet of the empire valued the. unripe fruit, steeped in brine, as a provocative to the palate, no less than his modern representative; and pickled olives, retaining their characteristic flavour, have been found among the buried stores of See also:Pompeii. The bitter juice or refuse deposited during expression of the oil (called amurca), and the astringent leaves of the tree have many virtues attributed to them by ancient authors. The oil of the bitter wild olive was employed by the Roman physicians in medicine, but does not appear ever to have been used as food or in the culinary See also:art. In modern times the olive has been spread widely over the world; and, though the Mediterranean lands that were its ancient See also:home still yield the See also:chief See also:supply of the oil, the tree is now cultivated successfully in many regions unknown to its early distributors. Soon after the See also:discovery of the See also:American See also:continent it was conveyed thither by the See also:Spanish settlers. In See also:Chile it flourishes as luxuriantly as in its native land, the trunk some-times becoming of large girth, while oil of See also:fair quality is yielded by the fruit. To See also:Peru it was carried at a later date, but has not there been equally successful. Introduced into See also:Mexico by the Jesuit missionaries of the 17th century, it was planted by similar agency in Upper See also:California, where it has prospered latterly under the more careful management of the Anglo-Saxon conqueror.

Its cultivation has also been attempted in the south-eastern states, especially in S. Carolina, See also:

Florida and See also:Mississippi. In the eastern hemisphere the olive has been established in many inland districts which would have been anciently considered See also:ill-adapted for its culture. To See also:Armenia and See also:Persia it was known at a comparatively early period of See also:history, and many olive-yards now exist in Upper Egypt. The tree has been introduced into See also:Chinese See also:agriculture, and has become an important addition to the resources of the Australian planter. In Queensland the olive has found a See also:climate specially suited to its wants; in South See also:Australia, near See also:Adelaide, it also grows vigorously; and there are probably few coast districts of the vast See also:island-continent where the tree would not flourish. It has likewise been successfully introduced into some parts of Cape See also:Colony.

End of Article: OLIVE (Olea europaea)

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