Calling all olive or plum experts!

[Mathew]

Hello to all olive and plum experts, can someone please help me with a
small problem that I am having?

Is an olive a type of plum?

The definition of plum is "any of numerous varieties of small to
medium-sized round or oval smooth-skinned fruit with a single pit"
this seems to account for olives as well.

can any one comment on this?

Thanks :)
Mathew

[Phil L]

Mathew wrote:
:: Hello to all olive and plum experts, can someone please help me
:: with a small problem that I am having?
::
:: Is an olive a type of plum?
::
:: The definition of plum is "any of numerous varieties of small to
:: medium-sized round or oval smooth-skinned fruit with a single pit"
:: this seems to account for olives as well.
::
:: can any one comment on this?
::
:: Thanks :)
:: Mathew

They are 'drupes' !

A drupe is any fruit which contains a single seed, peach, olive, cherry,
plum and apricot to name a few...see here:
http://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/drupes

and plums, along with nectarines and peaches, olives and mangoes are all
part of the same family : Prunus, so you could say that they are indeed
related...see this page for more details:
http://www.fact-index.com/d/dr/drupe.html


HTH

Although I'm not an expert in anything :-p

[Alan Gould]

Post by Phil L
They are 'drupes' !
A drupe is any fruit which contains a single seed, peach, olive, cherry,
http://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/drupes
and plums, along with nectarines and peaches, olives and mangoes are all
part of the same family : Prunus, so you could say that they are indeed
http://www.fact-index.com/d/dr/drupe.html

Correction: Olives are not botanically related to plums.

Olives are in the Oleaceae family of about 20 species of plants native
to Mediterranean and similar climates, of which O.Europeaea is commonly
used for olive production.

Plums are in the wide ranging Prunus family which includes nectarines,
peaches, cherries, almonds, apricots etc., but not olives or mangoes.

Post by Phil L
Although I'm not an expert in anything :-p

Try studying a little taxonomy.

[Kay]

Post by Phil L
and plums, along with nectarines and peaches, olives and mangoes are all
part of the same family : Prunus, so you could say that they are indeed
http://www.fact-index.com/d/dr/drupe.html

Ahem!!!

1) Prunus is not a family. It is a genus within the rose family Rosaceae

2) Olives are in a different family altogether - Oleaceae

3) and mangoes are in yet a third family

So you could say they were all related .... but about as closely as they
are to cacti, dandelions and carrots ;-)

Post by Phil L
Although I'm not an expert in anything :-p

I couldn't possibly comment ;-)

[Dave Poole]

Post by Kay
Ahem!!!
1) Prunus is not a family. It is a genus within the rose family Rosaceae
2) Olives are in a different family altogether - Oleaceae
3) and mangoes are in yet a third family

Yes, the same one that contains the cashew nut (Anacardium), smoke
bush (Cotinus) , sumac (Rhus) and pepper tree (Schinus) - namely the
Anacardiaceae. I'm sure you all feel much better for knowing that :-)

Post by Kay
So you could say they were all related .... but about as closely as they
are to cacti, dandelions and carrots ;-)

Just about sums it up really.

Dave Poole
Torquay, Coastal South Devon UK
Winter min -2°C. Summer max 34°C.
Growing season: March - November

[Charlie Pridham]

Post by Mathew
Hello to all olive and plum experts, can someone please help me with a
small problem that I am having?
Is an olive a type of plum?
The definition of plum is "any of numerous varieties of small to
medium-sized round or oval smooth-skinned fruit with a single pit"
this seems to account for olives as well.
can any one comment on this?
Thanks :)
Mathew

Botanists are more interested in the sexy bits!! its the flowers that tell
them a plum belongs to the Rosacea and the Olive to the Oleaceae so not
related at all.

--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collection of Clematis viticella (cvs)

[Mike Lyle]

Post by Mathew
Hello to all olive and plum experts, can someone please help me with a
small problem that I am having?
Is an olive a type of plum?
The definition of plum is "any of numerous varieties of small to
medium-sized round or oval smooth-skinned fruit with a single pit"
this seems to account for olives as well.
can any one comment on this?

Look a bit harder at the definition: it says a plum is "...any of
numerous species of...". That = "...any one of a number of
species...". This is different from "...any species of..."

What it means is that there are a lot of different species of stone
fruit which can all be called plums, but not that all stone fruit are
plums!

I agree it's not be instantly clear to anybody who isn't constantly
reading 'dictionary-ese', so perhaps they could have done better for
the layman.

Mike.

[Mike Lyle]

***@yahoo.co.uk (Mike Lyle) wrote in message news:<***@posting.google.com>...
[...]

I agree ****it's not be**** instantly clear to anybody who isn't constantly
reading 'dictionary-ese', so perhaps they could have done better for
the layman.
Mike.

****Ooh, arr! I alluz do say it's not be when 'er bean't.

Mike.

[Kay]

Post by Mathew
Hello to all olive and plum experts, can someone please help me with a
small problem that I am having?
Is an olive a type of plum?
The definition of plum is "any of numerous varieties of small to
medium-sized round or oval smooth-skinned fruit with a single pit"
this seems to account for olives as well.

That is a dictionary definition. It doesn't mean *any*
"medium-sized round or oval smooth-skinned fruit with a single pit"

it means, as it says, any of "*numerous* *varieties* of
medium-sized round or oval smooth-skinned fruit with a single pit"

It doesn't define the numerous varieties, but basically they are all
varieties of particular species of Prunus.