Olea europaea

Planted By

Prof. Prakash Pasumamula

Former Vice Chancellor, SRM University, Delhi NCR Sonepat, Haryana


(Chairman, 

NAAC Peer Team, 2023)


Dr. Prakash Pasumamula is an alumnus of Osmania University, Hyderabad, Did Post Doctoral research in Plant Molecular System at Humboldt University, Germany. Served as Vice-Chancellor, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University, Hyderabad, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi and also as Registrar of Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), Hyderabad. Before assuming the charge of Vice chancellor, SRM University DelhiNCR, Sonepat, Haryana, was Additional Secretary, University Grants Commission, New Delhi. Elected as Fellow of A.P. Academy of Sciences. Hyderabad and also a Founder Fellow of Telangana Academy of Sciences. 

Olea europaea L.

Family       : Oleaceae


Common Name : ഒലിവ് മരം (Mal)

: जैतून (Hin)

: Olive(Eng)



he olive, botanical name Olea europaea, meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as Olea europaea 'Montra', dwarf olive, or little olive. The species is cultivated in all the countries of the Mediterranean, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, North and South America and South Africa. It is the type species for its genus, Olea. The tree and its fruit give their name to the Oleaceae plant family, which also includes species such as lilac, jasmine, forsythia, and the true ash tree.


The olive tree, Olea europaea, is an evergreen tree or shrub native to Mediterranean Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is short and squat and rarely exceeds 8–15 m in height. 'Pisciottana', a unique variety comprising 40,000 trees found only in the area around Pisciotta in the Campania region of southern Italy, often exceeds this, with correspondingly large trunk diameters. The silvery green leaves are oblong, measuring 4–10 cm long and 1–3 cm wide. The trunk is typically gnarled and twisted. The small, white, feathery flowers, with ten-cleft calyx and corolla, two stamens, and bifid stigma, are borne generally on the previous year's wood, in racemes springing from the axils of the leaves. The fruit is a small drupe 1–2.5 cm long when ripe, thinner-fleshed and smaller in wild plants than in orchard cultivars. Olives are harvested in the green to purple stage. O. europaea contains a pyrena commonly referred to in American English as a "pit", and in British English as a "stone".


Use: The olive tree, Olea europaea, has been cultivated for olive oil, fine wood, olive leaf, ornamental reasons, and the olive fruit. About 80% of all harvested olives are turned into oil, while about 20% are used as table olives.