A Eurasian shrub or small tree cultivated as an ornamental.
Genus Elaeagnus, family Elaeagnaceae: several species, in particular E. angustifolia, commonly called Russian olive, which bears edible yellow olive-shaped fruit
‘Olives from wild trees (oleasters) were sporadically gathered, in the Near East, by Neolithic peoples about 10,000 years ago.’
‘Additionally, to compare the genetic diversity of laperrinei populations with that of populations belonging to the europaea subspecies, wild Mediterranean olives (oleasters) were characterized.’
‘Anyway, I arrive at my own yard and see my overgrown oleaster hedge in bloom with its teeny-tiny, very un-peony-like flowers.’
‘Its wild relatives, known as oleaster forms, are generally indistinguishable from feral types and constitute a common component of the Mediterranean vegetation.’
Origin
Late Middle English from Latin, from olea ‘olive tree’.
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