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OLIVE

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Image:Koeh-229.jpg|thumb|right|19th century illustration
The Olive (''Olea europaea'') is a species of small tree in the family (biology)|family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean region, from Lebanon, Syria and the maritime parts of Asia Minor and northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea. Its fruit, the olive (fruit)|olive, is of major agricultural importance in the Mediterranean region as the source of olive oil.

Description
The Olive tree is an evergreen tree or shrub native to the Mediterranean, Asia and parts of Africa. It is short and squat, and rarely exceeds 8â€“15 meters in height. The silvery green leaf|leaves are oblong in shape, measuring 4â€“10 cm long and 1â€“3 cm wide. The trunk is typically gnarled and twisted.

The small white flowers, with four-cleft sepal|calyx and petal|corolla, two stamens and bifid carpel|stigma, are borne generally on the last year's wood, in racemes springing from the axils of the leaves.

The fruit is a small drupe 1â€“2.5 cm long, thinner-fleshed and smaller in wild plants than in orchard cultivars. Olives are harvested at the green stage or left to ripen to a rich purple colour (black olive). Canned black olives may contain chemicals that turn them black artificially.

History
{{See also|Olive oil#History
The olive is one of the p... read all