Plant of the day is: Olea europaea or European olive

Plant of the day is: Olea europaea or European olive

    Today's plant of the day is going to be a bit more relaxed and narrative than the recent trend.  It is plant #100 so I'm pretty excited about it and I wanted to pick a significant and meaningful one.  I was recently in Spain and had the opportunity to see a very nice chunk of the largest groves in the world.  It is a truly magnificent and overwhelming thing to see miles and horizons of trees lined up through rolling hills.  Here is a photograph that doesn't do it justice.  I'm going to ramble about a few things and then give it the more traditional treatment near the end if you feel like hanging in.

Photo Credit: Justin Lee (CC BY 4.0)

Spain is the worlds largest producer of olives.  Forty five percent of all the worlds olives come from Spain.  That is a lot of olives.  It's all well and good to see a number and think "Wow that's a lot!".  It is something altogether different to see miles upon miles upon miles (err...kilometers) of groves as far as the eye can see.  We had the opportunity to take a high speed train from Barcelona to Cordoba where we then rented a car and drove to Granada, Ronda, and finally Sevilla.  For the most part we saw a really good sized chunk of southern Spain or the Andalusian region.  Now for a fun graphic.  There are HUNDREDS of cultivars of this tree, suited for different climates and different production (fruit, oil, etc. etc.).  This is a sweet map of the different varieties typically grown in Spain alone.

Crazy right?  Most of the production is in the southern region of Spain and it is considered a "dry crop" that doesn't require irrigation.  The trees are planted in groups of 3 to promote growth towards the outside which helps not only fruit production, but makes harvesting much easier as well.  There are a variety of harvest methods from shaking the trees, hand collecting into bags, and even pruning off branches to promote good form (kind of a double benefit to that).  One thing that did strike me as a little concerning, however, is that all the rows between the trees are continually cultivated (dug up so that weeds and/or native plants don't grow between rows).  A naturalist we hiked with there told me that they are just now starting to study the affects of erosion and soil degradation that this may cause.  The practice is done supposedly to make harvesting easier.  I do have to think that it might actually be better to leave the soil undisturbed.  You'll help promote native species (eventually...if seed banking can be reestablished) AND help create good soil structure and aeration.  Time will tell.  

I did see several tractors spraying as well, so they do have pest and pathogen issues.  

Some of these trees are reportedly over 1,000 years old.  So naturally, rich people are paying large sums to dig these trees up and ship them all over the world.  It's actually a big problem and Spain really needs to step up with some protections.  I believe Italy has already banned the practice.  See this article for an interesting read.  

Fun story:  The Mount of Olives is a mountain ridge east of Jerusalem's Old City.  Named for the olive groves that used to be there.  It is described as the place where Jesus ascended to heaven (Jeopardy question today...kid you not...).  He stood on the Mount of Olives and wept over Jerusalem.  

Photo Credit: Justin Lee (CC BY 4.0)

I really miss olives right now.  This bowl of olives here represents the best olives I've ever had.  I've fairly recently not been a huge fan of olives actually.  I would never even touch them as a child/younger me.  Even Niki, who is also not a fan, was impressed.  I miss the olives.  Nothing quite like truly authentic and delicious olives.  They are one of the most widely cultivated crops in the world actually with an estimated 865 million olive trees in the world (as of 2005).  Most ancient cultures, even dating back to the ancient Egyptians, have made use of this tree.  It is truly one of the great gifts to the planet and our species.  It's claimed as sacrad by Christians, Muslims, and the ancient gods of Greece.  The oldest trees are likely over 2,000 years in age.  They give us food, they give us oil and wood, they self regenerate, adapt to drought, and will invade areas if planted without consideration to their success.  

They are also extremely allergenic with an OPALS rating of 10 out of 10.  Being wind pollinated means that allergy season can be hell in production countries.  Our guide even mentioned how miserable it was.  This tree certainly earns my appreciation and respect for one of the more magnificent and beautiful creations on the earth.  Tip of the hat and wag of the finger.  

Taxonomy, etc.:  Just to briefly mention a few simple things.  It is actually a very small family in terms of genera, clocking in at only about 26 (one of which is recently extinct).  Around 700 species, which is respectable but again, not that large of a family.  Boy does it have some hard hitting and notable genera though!  Olive, ash, jasmine, privet, forsythia, lilacs, heck, even our native Chionanthus (fringe tree, which is flowering now I might add and just a lovely tree).  Hesperelaea palmeri from Guadalupe Island is now extinct and no longer with us.  Carl Linnaeus named 8 of the genera in 1753.  The rough establishment of the family was made by Johann Centurius Hoffmannsegg (surely could have used one more pair of double letters...) and Johann H.F. Link in their flora of Portugal.  According to wiki, there hasn't been much phylogenetic research into the family.  Get cracking people.  Though to be fair it is hard to work with because of some issues with reticulate evolution.  News to me.  Learn something new every day.

Description:  Evergreen shrub or tree native to the Mediterranean, Asia, and Africa.  A fairly short and squat tree but very dependent on varieties (more on that shortly).  Leaves are silvery green (glaucous) and alternate.  Trunks can be extremely gnarled and twisted, which is very beautiful.  The flowers are small and white and borne on previous year's wood in racemes that emerge from the leaf axils. Fruit is a drupe that is green when young and ripens to a darker purple black color.  Seed is considered a pit, rock, or stone depending on where you live.  Either way, don't eat the pit :).