Olea europaea L.
عتم ، زيتون، ميطان، العتم، مُطني
For people
- Eaten by people
- Edible
- Toxic to people
- Not toxic
For livestock
- Grazed by livestock
- Good fodder
- Toxic to livestock
- Not toxic
Edibility and safety notes
The fruit is edible, but raw olives are very bitter; cultivated olives are eaten after curing or pickling, or pressed for oil. The wild Omani olive (subsp. cuspidata) has small, thin-fleshed, bitter fruit that is edible when fully ripe (purple-black) but is of little food value; the leaves have been used as a tea substitute. Leaves and twigs are readily browsed by goats, sheep, cattle and camels. No poisoning hazard is known; cultivated trees sprayed with copper fungicide should not be fed to sheep.
This guide is a hobby project, not expert advice. Never eat a wild plant, or feed it to animals, on the strength of this page alone. Read the disclaimer
Description
A subtropical evergreen tree growing 6-10 m tall with a gnarled, twisted trunk. Leaves are grayish-green above, silver below, elliptical to lanceolate. Small fragrant white flowers bloom in panicles. Fruit is a green drupe ripening to purplish-black.
Habitat
Mountains: the northern Hajar range (including Jebel Akhdar) and the moist mountains of Dhofar.
Distribution
The species ranges from the Mediterranean region through Africa, Arabia and south-west Asia to the Himalayas and China, and is cultivated or naturalised as far as Australia. The wild subspecies cuspidata grows in Oman in the Hajar mountains (Jebel Akhdar, eastern Hajar) and the mountains of Dhofar.
Pastoral value
Good browse, especially for goats.
Other uses
The cultivated olive is one of the world's major crops, grown for olive oil and table olives. The wood is very hard, heavy, durable and finely grained, and is used for turnery, furniture and tool handles. The wild olive of Oman has small bitter fruit of little food value; elsewhere its leaves are traditionally used as a tea substitute and in folk medicine.
Sources
- الدليل الحقلي المصور للنباتات البرية في سلطنة عُمان (BOOK.pdf p.146)
- Wikipedia - Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata — en.wikipedia.org
- Feedipedia - Olive forage (Olea europaea) — feedipedia.org
- PlantUse - Olea europaea (Bekele-Tesemma, 2007) — uses.plantnet-project.org(Bekele-Tesemma,_2007)
- Morphological and genetic diversity of wild olive (subsp. cuspidata) in Oman - University of Reading thesis — reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org
- Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution - wild olive in the Hajar Mountains of Oman — link.springer.com
- Plants For A Future - Olea europaea — pfaf.org
- Wikipedia - Olive — en.wikipedia.org
- Feedipedia - Olive oil cake and by-products — feedipedia.org