Oleaceae

O. europaea L,, Sp. PI. 8 (1753).
Tree to 10(-15) m, with a broad crown, often gnarled trunk, and thornless nearly terete branches, or densely branched shrub to 2(-5) m, with 4-angled ± thorny branches; twigs lepidote, grey; buds very small, lepidote-sericeous, greyish. Leaves lanceolate or obovate, (8-)20-86 x (4-)5-17(-24) mm, subsessile, mucronate, dark green and glabrous above, densely silvery-lepidote beneath. Panicles shorter than leaves; flowers white, fragrant, 3-4 mm, drupe subglobose or oblong, 6-35(-4O) x 5-20(-25) mm, shining black, brownish-green or rarely ivory-white when ripe. Fl. 5.
1. Leaves lanceolate, longer than 4 cm; twigs thornless, nearly terete; fruit large (to 35 mm) var. europaea
1. Leaves obovate, shorter than 4 cm; lower twigs ± thorny and quadrangular; fruit small (to 15 mm) var. sylvestris
var. europaea. Zhukovsky, La Turquie Agricole p. 642-650 (1933). Syn: O. europaea L. var. sativa Lehr., Diss. Bot.-Med. Olea europaea: 21 (1779); O. sativa Hoffmanns. & Link, Fl. Port. 1:388 (1809). Ic: Reichb., Ic. Fl. Germ. 17:1074 (1854).
Described from S. Europe (Hb. Linn. 20/1, photo!).
This variety is the cultivated olive. Many cultivars are grown in Turkey, such as 'Ayvalik', 'Çakir', 'Çelebi', 'Çilli', 'Domat', 'Edinciksu', 'Erkence', 'Gemlik', 'Halhali', 'Memecik', 'Memeli', 'Uslu', etc., selected for their edible fruit and oil. These are grown within the following vilayets: A1(E) Çanakkale, Tekirdağ; A1(A) Çanakkale, Balikesir; A2(E) Istanbul; A2(A) Istanbul, Bursa, Kocaeli, Bilecik; A6 Samsun; A7 Giresun, Trabzon; A8 Çoruh; Bl Çanakkale, Balikesir Manisa, Izmir; C2 Aydin, Denizli, Muğla; C3 Burdur, lsparta, Antalya; C4 lçel, Konya; C5 Adana; C6 Hatay, Gaziantep, Maraş; C7 Adiyaman, Urfa; C8 Mardin; also in the E. Aegean Islands.
A very characteristic crop of the Mediterranean region.