Olive

Olea europaea

Oleaceae

The silver tree of the Mediterranean — oil, fruit, and a bitter leaf with a long heart-folklore.

Culinary fruit and oil. Leaf tea is a traditional bitter, not a blood-pressure drug.

Parts used: Fruit · Oil · Leaf
Traditional notes: Kitchen oil and fruit · Traditional circulation folklore (leaf) · After a heavy meal
Grow · USDA 6b: Evergreen tree, USDA 8–10; pot and overwinter north A named cultivar. Seed is a lottery. In work: Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov
Harvest: Fruit in autumn when it colors; leaf year-round from a tree you own.

A terracotta pot you can roll indoors is kinder than a dead tree.
Fruit off the tree is not table-ready — cure or press.

Safety

Olive allergy Leaf extract in pregnancy without advice

Lore

Athena’s gift to Athens was an olive, not a horse. Homer’s heroes are already rubbing with the oil. Trees on Crete are measured in centuries; some groves are older than the languages spoken under them. The leaf that did not make the bottle still made the old bitter cup.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.