Bucida buceras

Bucida buceras (Black Olive, Oxhorn Bucida)

The Bucida buceras although generally called the ‘black olive tree,’ is not really the eatable olive that we knows and loves, but produces a small, Black seed capsule, the native of the upper Florida Keys (some consider native, others don’t). Black olive is a 40 to 50-foot tree with a polished trunk carrying strong, wind resistant branches and establishing a pyramidal shape, but building a very thick, oval to circular age crown. The tip of the crown is often flattened by age and the tree develops horizontally.  The thick, dark-bluish-green leathery blades are 2 to 4 cm long and are clustered at the end of the branch, often combined with spines of 0.5 to 1.5 inch in size that are identified around the branches.