Description
The inflorescence of the olive is a panicle, has a
central axis which branch off that at the same time can also branch out. In the
branches of the inflorescence, flowers may be isolated or form groups of three
to five flowers. Are bisexual or polygamous, since they have two types of
flowers: perfect and staminate. The perfect flowers are hermaphrodite made up
of a gamosepalous cup, inconspicuous (2 small teeth), green-whitish colored
made up of four sepals, the gamopetalous corolla made up of four petals
arranged in a white or yellowish-white cross. They are gathered in small
axillary clusters with a white corolla. The number of flowers per inflorescence
ranges from 10 to 40 flowers depending on the variety and environmental
conditions and physiological characteristics of the tree.
Its fruits are olives. They are drupes ovoid or
somewhat globular, in which appears a single bone. They have different sizes,
depending on variety, but typically range between 1.5 and 3 cm. The
olive experiences changes in color while it fattens. From deep green at the
beginning of its setting, to a yellowish green when it is developing, purple
spots appear at the beginning of ripening, followed by a bluish purple hue,
finally, when it reaches full maturity in a bluish black hue. Olives ripen in
autumn, September and October, and harvested at this time for their keep, for
it they must be dispossessed of their characteristic bitter taste. Those which
are used for making olive oil are collected in winter during the months of
November and December, to be carried to the mill. The olive bear fruits in
bunches of the previous year, a circumstance that benefits the alternation of
crops in a year of high production. In this way the vegetative growth, carrying
the following harvest, is reduced.
It belongs to the botanical family of Oleaceae in the
Ligustrales order. It is native of Asia Minor but it is cultivated
throughout the Mediterranean, mainly in Spain, for many centuries.
From Iran, Syria and Palestine it was expanded for the
rest of the Mediterranean basin. Their habitat is determined by the
Mediterranean climate characterized by mild winters and dry summers. The areas
belonging to this kind of weather are located between 30 ° and 45 ° parallels
of both hemispheres.
Part used
The leaves. Sometimes the fruits and their juice.
Fruits (oil)
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hyperlipidemia.
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