Arizona Wild Flowers
Wildflower Pictures And Photos

Olive, Olea europaea

Olive, Olea europaea

In Many A Back Yard Lurks The Olive Tree	Olive Tree, Olea europaea The Cause Of Many Allergies!
These Pretty Little Flowers Start Blooming First Of April When Most Peoples Allergies Start!	Local Areas Now Have Laws Against Planting These Kind In Arizona
These Unripe Olives	Start To Ripen
Turning Into These	Or These

Olive Olea europaea, Olive Family ( Oleaceae ), Olive. A single or multistemmed tree or large evergreen shrub. The olive tree is the oldest known cultivated tree in history. Olives were first cultivated in Africa, and then spread to Morocco, Algiers, and Tunisia by the Phoenicians. Olea europaea was first cultivated in Crete and Syria over 5000 years ago. Around 600 BC olive tree cultivation spread to Greece, and Italy. The olive tree is an evergreen tree with gray-green leaves, and small white fragrant flowers in the spring which produce a lot of pollen. A young olive tree has smooth gray bark, but as it gets older it gets very gnarled. A mature tree can reach a height of 25 to 30 feet, and live for hundreds of years. Some have even lived to be a thousand years. Wind is considered the primary agent in the transfer of olive pollen. Honey bees occasionally visit the trees for pollen. Height: 20-30ft with equal or slightly less spread. Flowers: Axillary clusters of small creamy white flowers; bloom in spring; allergenic. They have four valvate corolla lobes, a short four-toothed calyx, and two stamens that produce pollen copiously and little, if any, nectar. Blooming Time: Southern Arizona, March - April. Phoenix Area, April - May. Fruit & Seeds: Edible olives, 1.5in across; green in late summer maturing to black; drops when ripe. Leaves: The leaves are oval 1- to 3-inch gray-green leaves attached to gray branches. Found: Found throughout Arizona at lower elevations. Elevation: 0 - 2000 Feet. Habitat: Lower elevations where water is available.. Miscellaneous: Maintenance: high; allergenic pollen, flower drop, messy staining fruit drop, pruning of basal suckers is required. To stop flowering the trees can be sprayed. The olive spray season is in the months of February and March.. Flowering Photos Taken; April 6, 2003. In Glendale.