**3. State of the art on the olive tree**

4 Olive Germplasm – The Olive Cultivation, Table Olive and Olive Oil Industry in Italy

subspecies of *Olea europaea* are not addressed in this chapter.

trees in the western Mediterranean would be feral trees [21].

Domestication is based upon conscious behavior by humans over several centuries aimed at selecting among a species natural diversity those individuals that satisfied human requirements [5] such as in yield (seeds or other organs), composition (sugar, starch, fats, …), and to harvest and maintain the cultivation of said species (seed attachment to spike or

"However, human practices have had effects on the plant genome other than those intended through the conscious behavior of human domestication, effects which are highly documented for many crop species, especially cereals [6] barley, maize [7] Maize, [8]

For wheat and grains which were weeds in wheat fields, the main domestication center has been the Near-East in the Fertile-Crescent documented by [11, 12, 13]. Botanists have therefore inferred that the olive tree may have followed a similar history. The presence of Olea cuspidata in the Mountains of Iran suggested a relationship between this species and the olive (Figure 1). Initial molecular results have eliminated this hypothesis and definitively anchored the origin of the olive in the wild olive only [14, 15]. Relationships between the

Present populations of wild olive (called "oleaster") have questioned researchers on their origins. In the East of the Mitterrand they were considered natural. The famous botanist Pelletier has written, "the motherland of the wild olive tree is Anatolia", where numerous wild olive trees make up dense groves, and De Candolle opines that "olive was originated from Asia Minor and spread from Syria over to Greece via Anatolia" [16]. The Flora of the Mediterranean basin is split into eastern and western halves by a line between the Cyrenaica basin of Libya and the Adriatic sea [17, 18, 19, 20]. Effectively, Botanists believe that the oleaster was native to the eastern or oriental half, and once domesticated the olive was transported by humans in the western half, where it thrives as feral form. Thus, all oleaster

This supposition has been widely accepted on plenty of open commercial internet sites selling olive products. We believe that this assertion is false and will demonstrate that idea through the results given from various teams working on the olive (Italy, Spain, France,

Using the first molecular markers, namely isozymes, [22] has shown genetic differences between the wild and the crop in the west, but the results did not support an exclusive crop origin in the East, although in many internet sites, such as wikipedia, there is quotation of

Readers may therefore encounter confusing theories dealing with the olive history. A number of commercial sites favor the olive's origin as belonging to the commercial site's country, but this has no scientific support. According to some commercial sites, the motherland of the olive is the island of Crete, according to others Southern Caucasia, Iran,

**2. Dogma on the olive tree history** 

capitulum, dormancy of seeds, …).

sunflower [9, 10], as examples."

Portugal, Morocco, Tunisia, …).

[23] Wikipedia to sustain the theory.

The olive tree contributes in shaping landscapes and has deep importance in the agroeconomy, including the industrial economies based upon its by-products. However, the wild olive thrives in most of the domesticated olive's cultivation area and the wild olive's contribution to landscapes is far from neglected even though its contribution to agroeconomy is weak. One faces some confusion on their respective identification [25].

The olive tree is now used for oil and canned-fruit production, with minor use of the wood for handcrafts. The leaves are used in medicine as herb tea, due to mainly their high phenolic compound content as oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol, which are beneficial in nutrition and medicine (see chapter 15, this book). What was the first use of the olive tree that justified initial care to wild trees? This remains a question and we suggest some tracks. First, the use of the wood and oil as a fuel, since the wood burns green and further the oil produces little smoke, an great advantage in caves in comparison to using animal fats for light and to warm [26]. The spread of olive oil has been documented in the Bronze Age by the features and artifacts (stones, pottery) and later by the containers (aryballos and alabasters) of the perfume industry which used olive oil as a perfume base [27].

All European civilizations have tree symbols: Ash tree (Scandinavian), Sycomore (Egyptian)*,* Plane tree (Sparta, Greece), Oak tree (for the Gauls, Druids, to harvest mistletoe), Pinus (Japanese), (For the Buddha, India) and for Adam and Eve, …. The olive tree is markedly present in all religions (Christian, Judaism, Islam) symbolizing peace, aging, longevity, rejuvenating, authority, … and plenty of legends and stories are anchored in its history in Mediterranean cultures [28]. However, a primary feature of the olive is that olive oil may also be sacred and has many religious associations. Chrism (consecrated or anointing oil) is made of olive oil, usually includes balsam, and spices. There are many legends on the origins of the olive tree, and all started with the myth of a spontaneous (Athena) or a foreign origin, as Arbequina cv. (Museum Borges Blanca, Catalonia, Spain). Chrism is used for Blessed Sacrament, unction (anointing) oil for baptism, confirmations, Eucharist or communion, marriage, for doing penance, ordination of priests, and extreme unction or the last rites. If olive oil did exist during the Bronze Age, its exact purpose is not well known [27].

Origin and History of the Olive 7

From a scientific point of view the olive is an orphan species, that means there is no model plant surrounding the genus *Olea*. Although several thousand DNA sequences are deposed

in databases, little is known from the *Olea* genome, which remains to be sequenced.

**Figure 2.** First plane: landscape of abandonned Medieval olive groves surrounded by stone walls returned to natural appearance (Near Montpeyroux South of France). © Catherine Breton.

**4. The present distribution of the olive and its counter partner the wild** 

At present the oleaster is native in the following regions, and we can consider that since the last ice age the distribution has not changed, due to agricultural development the oleaster has disappeared in the agro-ecosystem, but it has not declined in the natural ecosystem (Figure 2). It is not an endangered species [30]. The wild olive tree thrives along the Mediterranean coasts. It is genuine in Spain, continental France and Corsica, continental Italy, Sardinia and Sicily islands, Greece and Turkey with Cyprus Island, and in all the east and south Mediterranean countries (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Egypt (Sinai) and Libya, it is present in plant formations. In Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco (Moulay-Idriss, Cascade d'Ouzou, Morocco; Ichkheul, Tunisia) once other tree species have been eliminated it may

thrive as dense populations but is not a colonizing species.

**olive** 

**Figure 1.** Europaea subsp. cuspidata x O. e. subsp. europaea grown in INRA nursery (Near Montpellier, France) See [33].© André Bervillé.

The area where the wild olive thrives is restricted in comparison to the area where the olive is presently grown. Indeed, one of the consequences of the 7,000 to 8,000 years of olive domestication was to spread the cultivated olive out of the biological area of the wild olive, whereas the wild olive did not spread (Figure 3). Indeed, the history of the domesticated olive is tightly linked to mankind and their trend to colonize all the environments, even harsh ones, in order to avoid conflicts with other populations.

It could appear simple to recognize an olive tree [29, 30, 31, 32]. However, out of orchards and in the ecological area of the wild olive, it is not so easy due to many tricks that could lead to confusion with a wild olive. Now, we have abandoned the idea to make the differences rational for all criteria retained (morphological, phenological, molecular) a continuous variation between the two forms is recorded. Consequently, we have to keep in mind that all a priori discrimination between the two forms is questionable and that their confusion does not bias the results exposed here.

Other chapters develop the taxonomy of *Olea* that naturally thrives over all continents except the Americas, and the species *Olea europaea* L. that spreads over Asia, Africa and Europa and is used for its fruit in the Mediterranean basin, but is used for wood charcoal in the mountains of India and Africa [33, 34].

From a scientific point of view the olive is an orphan species, that means there is no model plant surrounding the genus *Olea*. Although several thousand DNA sequences are deposed in databases, little is known from the *Olea* genome, which remains to be sequenced.

6 Olive Germplasm – The Olive Cultivation, Table Olive and Olive Oil Industry in Italy

**Figure 1.** Europaea subsp. cuspidata x O. e. subsp. europaea grown in INRA nursery (Near

The area where the wild olive thrives is restricted in comparison to the area where the olive is presently grown. Indeed, one of the consequences of the 7,000 to 8,000 years of olive domestication was to spread the cultivated olive out of the biological area of the wild olive, whereas the wild olive did not spread (Figure 3). Indeed, the history of the domesticated olive is tightly linked to mankind and their trend to colonize all the environments, even

It could appear simple to recognize an olive tree [29, 30, 31, 32]. However, out of orchards and in the ecological area of the wild olive, it is not so easy due to many tricks that could lead to confusion with a wild olive. Now, we have abandoned the idea to make the differences rational for all criteria retained (morphological, phenological, molecular) a continuous variation between the two forms is recorded. Consequently, we have to keep in mind that all a priori discrimination between the two forms is questionable and that their

Other chapters develop the taxonomy of *Olea* that naturally thrives over all continents except the Americas, and the species *Olea europaea* L. that spreads over Asia, Africa and Europa and is used for its fruit in the Mediterranean basin, but is used for wood charcoal in

Montpellier, France) See [33].© André Bervillé.

harsh ones, in order to avoid conflicts with other populations.

confusion does not bias the results exposed here.

the mountains of India and Africa [33, 34].

**Figure 2.** First plane: landscape of abandonned Medieval olive groves surrounded by stone walls returned to natural appearance (Near Montpeyroux South of France). © Catherine Breton.
