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Plant Identification Learning Module:
Ornamentals

Black Olive (Terminalia buceras)

The black olive is a 40 to 50 foot tall evergreen or partly deciduous tree with an open canopy. Simple leaves are alternate or spirally arranged in whorls. They are obovate and up to three inches long. The light green, leathery, leaves are usually crowded on the swollen ends of branches. During cool weather some plants show red leaf color. The flowers, which occur in spring and summer, are inconspicuous and borne on spikes to four inches long. The leathery, 1/4 to 1/2 inch, reddish-brown to dark brown to black fruit is borne in drooping clusters, maturing mid to late summer.