Olive Olea europaea Verdale

OleaDB gives no single verdict of its own: it lists what each paper reports. For purpose, most of the papers it cites give Verdale de l'Hérault as dual-purpose, some as a table olive and one as an oil olive, and most rate its oil content as medium. For pollination, most call it self-incompatible, a few partly or fully self-compatible, so plant it with other varieties, as the species' references advise for any fruiting olive. For cropping, more of the papers call it a good but alternate bearer than a good and constant one. One paper describes the fruit as spherical and slightly asymmetric and the branches as erect. The database also holds two separate Australian names, South Australian Verdale, which it marks as Australian in origin and which one Western Australian paper gives as a table olive, and Wagga Verdale, a name it has not matched to any known cultivar. So the Australian literature holds more than one olive under the name Verdale.

Growers list this plant as Olive Olea europaea Verdale. Because the literature holds a French Verdale, a South Australian Verdale and a Wagga Verdale, ask the grower which one the line is if the fruit matters to the job. No reference read gives a tree size for Verdale, so the olive page's figures for the species are the guide. The table above shows the sizes growers list, and the pot sizes guide explains the grades. What to look for in the plant itself is in the HortOS guide to nursery plant quality. Stock crossing a state border moves under the state and territory biosecurity rules.

The Queensland Government's Weeds of Australia fact sheet says the common olive is regarded as a significant environmental weed in South Australia, where non-cultivated olives are declared plants, and as an environmental weed in Victoria, Western Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT. HortFlora says the seed is spread by birds and foxes. Verdale is a fruiting olive.