Olives

What is an olive? Well, botanically speaking, the fruit of the olive tree is a drupe, or stone fruit, and is cultivated on all continents (Figure 1), but the olive is much more than a fruit — it’s a symbol. Olives and the trees that bear them are mentioned in The Odyssey, the Quran, the Torah, and the Bible, just to name a few. Representing peace, abundance, and victory, this divine fruit has its origins in the cradle of Western civilization, and for centuries they have been considered sacred by the cultures that depended on them. The word for oil in many languages is derived from the ancient words for olive. Olive oil has anointed the heads of kings and has lit sacred temples; olive branches adorn the heads of victorious athletes and are extended as signs of peace; the wood of an olive tree was supposedly used to construct the cross on which Jesus was crucified (after which time, legend has it, the trees were so ashamed they would no longer grow straight). Besides all that, what’s better than a dry martini with a delicious, briny olive floating in it? The nourishing flesh of olives, and their other drupe cousins, attract the attention of animals, who disperse the seeds, sometimes by swallowing the fruit whole, where the seed is protected by its stone-like exterior. In the case of wild olives, most of the seed dispersal is carried out by birds. Olive trees can live for centuries — although many countries in the Mediterranean Basin and Middle East squabble over who has the single, oldest olive tree, there are many trees known to be at least 2,000 years old, and some may be even older than that!