The Origin of Species
The Domestication of the Olive
The Development of Cultivars
Selecting the Best Cultivars
Clones and New Cultivars
Density
Oldest Trees
The Bible
The Olive Tree in Roman Times
Cultivation
Table olives
Conservation
Olive wood
Soap
The Cretan diet
The olive lifestyle 67 Around the world
Europe
North Africa and the Near East
Asia
New Worlds
Olives are cultivated selections of a spiky, spiny shrub or small tree known to botanists as Olea europaea L. The wild species originated somewhere in the Middle East and is probably extinct. Its place has been taken by cultivated forms with names like Frantoio and Picual, and by seedlings known as oleasters. Nevertheless, there is vigorous competition among nations to claim the original wild olive as theirs. Turkey, Syria and Israel are among the states asserting that such an important plant must surely be native to their country and to no other.
Palaeobotanists who have studied fossilised olive plants tell us that the olive tree originated 20-40 million years ago, somewhere in the Oligocene region that later became the Mediterranean Basin. More recent evidence comes from fossilised leaves found in the soil and rock of Santorini, which have been dated to about 37,000 BC. The leaves had been infected by larvae of the olive whitefly, Aleurolobus olivinus, which is still a pest today – though one might also say that its presence is a nice example of co-evolution over the millennia.
The genus Olea has some 35 species. Most are native to tropical regions, and some are tall trees: O. rubrovenia from Borneo and O. capensis from East Africa will reach 30 metres in height. Olea europaea is the only species that produces edible fruit, which makes it the ancestor of all cultivated olives.
Towering olive trees that let their olives fall to the ground to be collected little by little, Corfu (Greece)
The olive tree is a Mediterranean species and naturally adapted to the Mediterranean climate. It will grow at altitudes from sea-level to 1,000 metres, except for exceptional cases like the olive trees in Barreal, Argentina, which grow at over 1,600 metres, and requires full sun in summer. It fares best in temperatures between 15ºC and 25ºC but most cultivars will tolerate lows of -8ºC and highs of 35ºC. The optimum annual rainfall is around 700 mm, most of it falling in winter. It tolerates drought in summer, but prolonged lack of water affects the growth of the tree and the formation of leaves and fruits.
Long winter freezes will kill an olive tree to the ground. Many trees suffered this fate in Syria in 1949, Provence in 1956 and Tuscany in 1985, with severe financial and social consequences for farmers and their neighbours. However, trees usually regenerate from the roots, which is why olive trees are sometimes said to be immortal. A millennial oleaster from the Alto Maestrazgo in Castellón was cut to the ground by exceptionally hard frost in 1956 and showed no signs of life for 50 years. Then, at last, it sent out new shoots from deep inside its gaunt, leafless skeleton. By 2012 it had grown back enough to be voted ‘Olive tree of the Year’ by the Asociación Española de Municipios del Olivo.
Fifteen years ago, Eduardo Mencos Valdés (farmer, landscape designer and photographer) and Charles Quest-Ritson (historian, writer, journalist and editor) conceived the idea of going on a trip around the world, like Jules Verne, but with the olive tree playing the leading role.
The outcome of that adventure through 26 countries is this book, which tells the story of humankind through the olive tree and its fruit. In the book, the authors take an in-depth look at a tree that is so familiar to us all and yet still remains so much of a mystery in terms of its many different guises.
With over 200 spectacular photographs taken by Eduardo Mencos Valdés, accompanied by an erudite text written by Charles Quest-Ritson, the book sweeps through the manifold manifestations of the olive tree and its distinguishing traits. It covers the origin and later domestication of the tree, all of the different roles it has played and the significance it has had at different times throughout history, its importance in the Bible, right through to the most innovative contemporary methods used today for growing and cloning olive trees, together with the prominent place it holds in the Mediterranean diet and its different uses.
The intention of this long journey is to awaken a vision of the olive tree that is imbued with beauty, poetry and curiosity.