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The olive tree (Olea europaea), also called True olive tree, is a medium-sized, in the age often gnarled tree in the
genus of olive trees (Olea). It belongs to the family of the Oleaceae (Oleaceae). It is cultivated as a crop since the 4th millennium BC.
The olive tree was the symbol of the goddess Athena. Since ancient times, it is known and probably originates from the eastern
Mediterranean. According to an ancient Greek tradition Athens is the hometown of the olive tree and the first olive tree was planted
by the legend of Athena on the Acropolis.
The Greeks were the first people who cultivated the olive tree in the European Mediterranean as a crop. As Pliny wrote (580 BC.) in this time the
cultivation of olive has not been known neither in Italy (Lazio) nor in Spain or Tunisia.
The olive tree is an evergreen tree with opposite leaves, lanceolate, leathery, dark green on top and silvery on the bottom.
The flowers are whitish, very small and appear to late May. The fruit ripens and is harvested from late autumn and early winter.
The olive tree thrives in the Mediterranean climate, ie with mean annual temperatures of 15 to 20 ° C and annual rainfall 500 to 700 mm
at best, at least 200 mm is required. It grows in all areas around the Mediterranean and in part to the Black Sea, which do not have
extreme climate conditions. It can withstand high heat, but suffers slightly by frost in cold winters, whereby not only the harvest
of individual years, but the inventory of entire plantations is threatened.
The olive tree is regarded as characteristic plant of Mediterranean plants and shows the areas where it grows as areas with a Mediterranean or
Mediterranean climate. He also thrives in coastal areas.
Meli Malisiova
apiculture | agriculture
