Olea europaea - Olive Tree Seeds

Description

Olea europaea, more commonly known as the olive tree, is a long-lived evergreen tree with immense cultural and economic significance, particularly in the Mediterranean region where it is native. It is revered for its longevity with some trees over a thousand years old, and its ability to thrive in poor, rocky, and dry soils.

The olive tree is a slow-growing tree with a gnarled, twisted trunk that becomes more rugged with age. Its foliage consists of small, lance-shaped leaves that are a distinctive silvery-green color on top and silvery-white underneath. Small, fragrant, creamy-white flowers appear in clusters in late spring. The tree’s upright, spreading habit makes it a popular ornamental plant in addition to its agricultural use.

The fruit of the olive tree is a fleshy fruit with a central stony pit. This pit is what is commonly referred to as the seed. The fruit ripens from a green color to a deep purple or black. The flesh of the fruit is rich in oil, which is extracted for olive oil, a cornerstone of Mediterranean cuisine. The hard, woody pit encloses a single, small seed. The seed’s hard coat helps protect it and is an adaptation that often requires scarification (breaking the seed coat) for germination to occur naturally, often by being consumed and passed through the digestive tract of animals.