Olive

An evergreen tree of the oilseed family, 5-12 m high. The crown is wide-spreading. The trunk and branches are twisted.

The bark is gray or gray-black, covered with scales, and forms nodules. The leaves are opposite, almost sessile, entire, dark green above, silver-gray below. Blooms in May - June.

The flowers are fragrant, small, dioecious or polygamous, collected in a multicolored axillary inflorescence. The fruit is an ellipsoid or oval drupe with fleshy whitish pulp and a very hard stone. Ripens in September - October.

The olive is distributed along the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, in Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Crimea. It is a valuable agricultural crop. Grows on silty, well-moistened soils, often near water bodies.

The fruits are eaten salted and fresh. They contain a large amount of oil. It is produced in two ways - cold and hot.

In the first case, it turns out to be of higher quality and is known as olive oil, which is widely used in food, in the canning and pharmaceutical industries.

Olive oil serves as a good base for preparing ointments, plasters and various cosmetics. Technical oil from olives is obtained by pressing the pulp.

It is used for various technical purposes, lighting and in the soap industry. The cake obtained during the pulp pressing process is used as livestock feed.

Fruits and leaves serve as medicinal raw materials.

The leaves are harvested during the flowering period of the tree. Dry in the shade, laying out in a thin layer and turning over periodically. Store in fabric bags for 1 year.

Olive oil contains glycerides of oleic, palmitic, stearic, linoleic, arachidonic and other acids. Anthocyanins, phenolcarboxylic acids, carbohydrates, catechins and wax are found in the fruits; glycosides, organic acids, mannitol, bitterness, flavonoids and tannins are found in the leaves.

The oil obtained from the fruit is used as an enveloping, choleretic and mild laxative, for cholelithiasis, constipation, especially in children and malnourished people, bleeding hemorrhoids, inflammatory diseases of the stomach and intestines to reduce irritation of the mucous membranes, in case of poisoning with liquids that cause burns mucous membrane of the mouth, esophagus and stomach, and also as an emollient for the formation of hard crusts on ulcers, for lubricating abrasions, bruises, stings of bees, wasps and bumblebees.

Take 60 ml of olive oil orally 3 times a day before meals.

A decoction of the leaves is prescribed for hypertension, as a diuretic for edema, as well as for the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis and obesity. To prepare it, pour 1 tablespoon of raw material into 1 glass of hot water, boil in a water bath for 5-10 minutes, filter through two or three layers of gauze and bring the volume to the original volume.

Take 1 tablespoon 3 times a day 20 minutes before meals.