Olive Tree

Alice Springs Flora •

Alice Springs FloraAlice Springs Flora Index Acacia ligulata Annual Yellowtop Apple Bush Bougainvillea Burdekin Plum Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqa) Cattle Bush Desert Cotton (Aerva javanica) Desert Oak Eremophila Wildberry Feijoa sellowiana Flannel Cudweed Fork-leaf Corkwood Ghost Gum Golden Everlasting Kurrajong Lemon-flowered Gum MacDonnell’s Desert Fuchsia Native Bluebell Native Tomato Needlewood Olive Tree Perennial Yellow Top Rat’s Tail River Red Gum Inland River Red Gum Rosy Dock Round-leaved Mallee Scurvy Grass Silky Eremophila Stemodia viscosa Striped Mintbush Sturt’s Desert Pea Sturt’s Desert Rose Tangled Leschenaultia Tar Vine Weeping Bottlebrush White Cedar Yellow Billybutton Yellow-keeled Swainsona Yellow Oleander

Dating back to ancient Greece, the Olive Tree (genus Olea, species Olea europaea) is one of the world’s oldest cultivated trees. A tough and drought hardy plant, they were cultivated for the fruit and oil.

The Olive Tree is also a popular garden planting, with their evergreen foliage that is cultivated as hedges, espalier and topiary. Originating from the Mediterranean region, they do well in Australia in areas where the summer is long, hot, dry and the winter is cool. They also do well in temperate climates and along coastal areas.

Found in a number of gardens in Alice Springs, the Olive Tree is also popular with the native Western Bowerbird (Chlamydera guttata), of whom the male of the species will build a bower beneath the Olive Tree, especially in the more established wild and natural gardens. Often you will see that the male Western Bowerbird has lined the bower with green and white treasures (and on occasion other random items) and when available, green seed fruit, including green olives from the olive tree.

The following photographs were taken in October 2022 in a garden in Alice Springs.