The olive tree or Olea europea is one of the most beautiful trees that there is. Its fruit is the olive, a foodstuff used in a wide range of cooking recipes and homemade health cures. It is very common in the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea while also having a presence in some American countries. The exact beginnings of the olive are unclear but it appears to have originated in ancient Mesopotamia more than 6,000 years ago.

The olive is an evergreen tree. It is always green, with a thin and irregular crown. The trunk and the branches are very twisted and knotted. It is tall, it measures around ten metres in height but in some regions of the Mediterranean it is not unusual to find examples that are twice as high. The leaves are small, oblong, greenish grey on top and whitish underneath.

The olive tree is a tree that grows slowly but, on the other hand, it lives a long time. It can live for hundreds of years and there are some that are believed to be more than 2,000 years old. It is quite demanding in terms of the climate. The cold and excessive rain damages it. As such, it adapts well to dry land. Its roots are long and deep, in order to obtain the little water it needs from the land. Regarding soil, the olive tree can make do with little and, therefore, we see it grow in poor and rocky lands.