Olea europaea L.

Spice Flower Fruit In the field Trunk

Family: OLEACEAE

Genus: Olea

Catalan common name: Oastre. Rabell. Ullastre.

Spanish common name: Acebuche.

Province distribution: Alacant. Balearic Islands. Barcelona. Castelló. Girona. Tarragona. València.

Distribution in the islands: Mallorca. Menorca. Ibiza. Formentera. Cabrera. Dragonera.

General distribution (Phytogeography): Some regions

Uses and properties: Edible or foodstuffs. Furniture, construction and tools. Medicinal. Perfumery. Symbolic uses.

IUCN Category: LCLeast concern

Flowering time: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Life-forms: Macrophanerophyte.

Habitats: Oakforest. Rock crevices and cliff faces. Garden plants. Non-saline wetlands (intermittent watercourses, streams, artesian wells, ditches). Wild olive trees and other sclerophyllous shrublands. Juniperus phoenicea subsp. turbinata forest. Pine wood and shrubland with rosemary and thyme garigue. Dry soils.

Characteristics: The wild olive (var. sylvestris) is the undomesticated cousin of the olive tree (var. europaea). Leaves are greyish green in colour on the obverse, almost white on the reverse, grouped in pairs along the stems. These leaves can be very small and round in the basal sprouts, or lanceolate and up to 8 cm in length in the upper branches. The cultivated olive trees have larger and longer leaves than Olea sylvestris, but the fundamental difference between the two is the fruit (the olive).