Olive | The Wood Database (Hardwood) (original) (raw)

Olive (Olea europaea)

Common Name(s): Olive, European olive, Italian olive, Mediterranean olive, Bethlehem olive

Scientific Name: Olea europaea

Distribution: Native to Mediterranean Region; also cultivated in many subtropical regions worldwide

Tree Size: 25-50 ft (8-15 m) tall,

3-5 ft (1-1.5 m) trunk diameter

Average Dried Weight: 61.2 lbs/ft3 (980 kg/m3)

Specific Gravity (Basic, 12% MC): 0.81, .98

Janka Hardness: 2,710 lbf (12,060 N)

Modulus of Rupture: 20,740 lbf/in2 (143.0 MPa)

Elastic Modulus: 1,797,000 lbf/in2 (12.39 GPa)

Crushing Strength: 9,960 lbf/in2 (68.7 MPa)

Shrinkage: Radial: 4.9%, Tangential: 7.7%,

Volumetric: 12.8%, T/R Ratio: 1.6

Color/Appearance: Heartwood is typically yellow to light reddish brown, with contrasting darker brown to black streaks and veins. Yellowish sapwood is generally sharply demarcated from the heartwood, though it can be harder to tell apart if the heartwood lacks contrasting streaks. Overall color tends to deepen with age. Olive is sometimes figured with curly or wavy grain, burl, or wild grain.

Grain/Texture: Grain may be straight, interlocked, or wild. Fine uniform texture with moderate natural luster.

Rot Resistance: Conflicting reports range from perishable to moderately durable. Olive has poor insect/borer resistance.

Workability: Can be somewhat difficult to work on account of its density and sometimes wild or interlocked grain, resulting in tearout during surfacing operations. Olive has high movement in service and is considered to have poor stability—especially if branch wood has been used (a more common occurrence with fruit trees like olive). Turns superbly, though drying checks and warpage can occur during drying. Glues and finishes well.

Odor: Has a distinct, fruity scent when being worked.

Allergies/Toxicity: Although severe reactions are quite uncommon, olive has been reported as a sensitizer. Usually most common reactions simply include eye and skin irritation. See the articles Wood Allergies and Toxicity and Wood Dust Safety for more information.

Pricing/Availability: Because of the fruit’s economic importance, healthy, cultivated olive trees typically aren’t felled for lumber. Availability is generally limited to pruned branches, trimmings, and diseased/storm damaged orchard trees. Short lumber, natural-edged slabs, turning squares, and burls are occasionally available, often from wild trees. Prices are high for an imported hardwood.

Sustainability: This wood species is not listed in the CITES Appendices or on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Common Uses: High-end furniture, veneer, turned objects, and small specialty wood items.

Comments: Olive trees are commercially important throughout the natural regions where they grow. There are several subspecies and hundreds of cultivars of Olea europaea, with each variety producing olives of different shapes, colors, etc. either for oil production or direct consumption (i.e., table olives).

One subspecies of note is Olea europaea ssp. cuspidata, sometimes called African olive or wild olive. This subspecies was formerly considered a separate species (listed under various names, such as O. africana and O. ferruginea), though now most authors simply consider it a subspecies.[1]Green, P. S. (2002). A revision of Olea L.(Oleaceae). Kew Bulletin, 91-140. This subspecies is believed to be the ancestor to what is now the cultivated olive used in commerce today.[2]Popay, I. (2022). Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata (wild olive) [Dataset]. In CABI Compendium. The wild trees are very widespread, and are even considered an invasive species in some non-native areas.[3]Cuneo, P., & Leishman, M. R. (2006). African Olive (Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata) as an environmental weed in eastern Australia: a review. Cunninghamia, 9(4), 545-577. Some of the mechanical data listed above, particularly the strength values, come from this subspecies.

In general, olive trees are very long-lived, and a number of specimens are considered among the oldest known trees in the world. However, because the trunks of mature olive trees tend to become hollow over time, exact dating can be problematic. Carbon dating and surrounding archeological evidence is sometimes used to estimate a tree’s age, and reports of the oldest olive trees in the Mediterranean region range anywhere from several hundred to even thousands of years old—with many still bearing fruit.[4]Bernabei, M. (2015). The age of the olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane. Journal of Archaeological Science, 53, 43-48.[5]Bombarely, A., Doulis, A. G., Lambrou, K. K., Zioutis, C., Margaritis, E., & Koubouris, G. (2021). Elucidation of the origin of the monumental olive tree of vouves in Crete, Greece. … Continue reading

When used for lumber, olive wood is generally named after its origin, with a number of names/sources commonly used, such as Bethlehem olive, European olive, Italian olive, Mediterranean olive, and Spanish olive. Although growing conditions can affect the tree and therefore the quality of the wood produced, there doesn’t seem to be much of a consistent difference in the wood from different general regions in the Mediterranean. Even the closely related East African olive (Olea capensis), while not used for olive fruit production, bears wood that is more or less indistinguishable from Olea europaea.

Not to be confused with Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia), an unrelated hardwood species in a different family (Elaeagnaceae) than true olive trees.

Images: Drag the slider up/down to toggle between raw and finished wood.

A special thanks to Steve Earis for providing a wood sample and turned photo of this wood species.

Porosity: diffuse porous; growth rings sometimes discernible due to decrease in pore frequency and color change of fibers in latewood

Arrangement: primarily in radial multiples

Vessels: small to medium, numerous to very numerous; yellowish deposits common

Parenchyma: vasicentric, though on most samples very little if any parenchyma is visible

Rays: narrow width, normal spacing

Lookalikes/Substitutes: With its dramatic contrasting streaks and veins, olive is sometimes confused with zebrawood (Microberlinia brazzavillensis). However, zebrawood has very large pores (giving the wood a coarse, open texture), as well as visible winged and banded parenchyma.

A lesser known hardwood more closely related (in the Oleaceae family) is lilac (Syringa vulgaris). Although lilac typically lacks the dramatic streaks and veins found in olive, lilac wood is about the same weight, and has very similar anatomical features. However, its strong floral scent differs from the more fruit-like scent of olive wood.

Notes: Portions of the heartwood (possibly correlated with areas of darker streaking) can fluoresce a faint to medium yellow under blacklight.