Oleaceae ‘Olive’ family (lilac family) is a taxonomic family of flowering shrubs and trees, presently comprises 27 genera. Members of the family Oleaceae are woody plants, mostly trees and shrubs; a few are lianas. The number of species in the Oleaceae is variously estimated in a wide range around 700. Notable members include olive, ash, jasmine and several popular ornamental plants including privet, forsythia, fringe trees, and lilac. The flowers are often numerous and highly odoriferous. The type genus for Oleaceae is Olea, the olives. The Oleaceae is mainly found in Southeast Asia and Australia. There are also a significant number of species in Africa, China, and North America. Many members of the family are economically significant. Olea europaea is important for its fruit and for the olive oil extracted from it. The ashes (fraxinus) are valued for their tough wood. Forsythias, lilacs, jasmines, osmanthuses, privets and fringe trees are valued as ornamental in gardens and landscaping.

Olea europaea, meaning ‘European olive’, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found naturally in the Mediterranean basin. The word olive derives from Latin ŏlīva ‘olive fruit’. When in shrub form, it is known as Olea europeae ‘montra’, dwarf olive. Today European olive tree is cultivated in all the countries of the Mediterranean, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, North and South America and South Africa.

Six natural subspecies of Olea europaea is known: O.   e. subsp. europaea (Mediterranean Basin) O. e. subsp. guanchica (Canary Islands), O. e. subsp. cerasiformis (Madeira); O. e. subsp. maroccana (Morocco), O. e. subsp. laperrinei (Algeria, Sudan, Niger), O. e. subsp. cuspidata (from South Africa throughout East Africa, Arabia to Southwest China).

Olive Tree grow very slowly, reach 6-10 m over many years, rarely become 15 m high. Plant was first cultivated some 7,000 years ago in the Mediterranean regions. It is one of the longest living evergreen trees (one in Portugal supposed to be age of 3350 years, another in Montenegro with more than 2000 years old). They are very hardy and resistant to disease and fire. Its root system is robust and capable of regenerating the tree even if the above ground structure is destroyed. It is one of the easiest trees to transplant somewhere else even at old age.

Olea europaea is a broadleaf evergreen, tree, much branched, forming a rounded head. When the plant is young the trunk is straight and covered in a smooth, silvery-grey bark. Later the trunk becomes twisted, knobbly, dark and often with cavities. Leaves are evergreen, simple, opposite, elliptic to lanceolate, to 8 cm long, leathery, glaucous green and smooth on top, silvery tomentum on the underside. Flowers appear from April to June, they are small, white, fragrant, joined in clusters (panicles) at the leaf axil. Fruit spherical to ovoid, green, then ripening to purple-black, 1-5 cm long, each one contains one seed called pyrena (stone). Olive oil is produced by pressing the olives.

Olive Tree requires deep, dry, any but permeable soil, loves the sun and does not like excessive moisture. In humid areas they are more prone to pest and disease problems. It tolerates drought, can withstand temperatures up to -10°C. Trees take three to five
years of growth until they produce their first harvest and generally become fully productive after eight years. Olive trees can remain productive for centuries as long as they are pruned correctly.

Olive, is of major agricultural importance in the Mediterranean region as the source of olive oil; it is one of the major ingredients in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine. Hundreds of cultivars of the Olive Tree are known. Some cultivars are self-sterile so, they are generally planted in pairs with a single primary cultivar and a secondary cultivar selected for its ability to fertilize the primary one. Cultivars may be used primarily for oil, eating or both. Olives cultivated for consumption are generally referred to as ‘table olives’. About 80% of all harvested olives are turned into oil, while about 20% are used as table olives.

Olea europaea and Olive oil has long been considered sacred and holy, since old times. Olive, has been widely mentioned in the New Testament, in the  Bible and in the Quaran. Over the years, the olive has also been used to symbolize wisdom, fertility, power, purity, glory and peace.

According to the World Food and Agriculture Organization, in 2008. Total 19.267.000 tons of the world’s olive productions; 6.560.000 tons comes from Spain, Turkiye is the 4 th country after Greece and Italy, with 2.092,000 tons of yield.

Use in Landscape: In modern landscape design Olive Trees are frequently used as ornamental features for their distinctively gnarled trunks and evergreen silvery green foliage. They are used as shade trees, as hedges, espalier and can be grown as potted plants. In the last decades old trees started to prune heavily as to be use as topiary specimens.