Oleaceae

Olive Family

Desert Olive

FAMILY: Olive family (Oleaceae) – Forestiera genus.

SPECIES: Desert olive, stretchberry, wild privet, or elbow bush (Forestiera pubescens Nutt. var. pubescens = Forestiera neomexicana A. Gray = Forestiera acuminata (Michx.) Poir. var. parviflora A. Gray).

TO UTILIZE AS FOOD: Warning! Although probably nontoxic in small amounts, the fruits of desert olive are generally considered inedible (Tull 1999 p. 194), and were seldom eaten by Native Americans.

Fruits of desert olive are small, bluish-purple, dusty, and berry-like. When fully ripe, they have plenty of sweetness combined with moderate bitterness, and taste more like fruits than vegetables. The flavor has elements of commercially grown olives, yet differs substantially. About half the volume is filled with a soft pit. The other half is juicy flesh. Based on flavor, these fruits would seem like a good wild food, but they may have safety issues and probably shouldn’t be consumed in large amounts. Bitterness varies, but it seems to stay within tolerable limits. Sampling a few fruits to check for sweetness before gathering a supply is wise. Only fully ripe fruits should be gathered. Prior to maturity, they taste awful, and cooking has little effect upon the flavor. Fruits occur in clusters and become available from mid to late summer. Gathering the fruits is easy and the gathering season is generous. Fruits may persist well into autumn without much change in flavor. Overall, desert olives are certainly worth further investigation, but caution is advised.

NOTES: One of the few written accounts of desert olives (F. pubescens) being used as food is found in Edward Castetter’s 1936 work about the Apache Indians which states, “A number of species of fruits were occasionally eaten but did not constitute important Apache foods. Among these were strawberries (Fragaria bracteata) and the purplish fruits of the wild privet (Forestiera neomexicana), which were always eaten without preparation.” Subsequent references often refer to this one, either directly or indirectly. Cultivated olives sold in grocery stores come from the olive tree (Olea europaea), which is native to Europe, Asia, and Africa. Although cultivated olives can be eaten raw, they are almost always processed to reduce their excessive bitterness. Desert olives don’t require any processing. Fresh or cooked desert olives taste about the same, and they have a fruity aspect that seems to be missing in cultivated olives. I gathered desert olives on several occasions. The best ones came from Lime Creek in southeastern Utah. Those gathered from other places were also good, but not as sweet and fruity. Even though the Apache Indians apparently ate desert olives, a forager should ask: Why didn’t more groups of Native Americans eat these fruits and why did the only people known to eat them consider them of little importance? Desert olive is a common and productive shrub. If its fruits were valuable, this would have been emphasized in literature about the subject, so foragers should approach desert olives with caution.

IDENTIFICATION: The Forestiera genus is represented by 8 species in the United States, of which only 2 are found in the Southwest. Flowers of desert olives lack sepals and petals. Instead, they consist of pistils and stamens clustered in yellowish-green bud scales resembling petals. An individual pistil represents each female flower, and several of these are clustered in the bud scales. Likewise, male flowers consist of 2-4 stamens clustered in the bud scales, so that the structures look like typical flowers with many stamens.

Description of desert olive (Forestiera pubescens): FORM shrub, typically about 2 to 4 meters tall; BRANCHES often spine-tipped, but otherwise spineless; LEAVES simple; opposite or clustered   on the branch tips; short-stalked; blades oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic; margins entire, finely toothed, or rolled under; surfaces hairless (var. glabrifolia) or hairy (var. pubescens); FLOWERS regular, perfect or unisexual, ovary superior, appearing before the leaves, and arranged in axillary clusters; sepals and petals absent or minute, but the yellowish-greenish-brownish bud scales resembling petals; pistils 1; styles 1; stigmas 1; stamens 2-4; anthers yellow or purple; FRUITS drupes dark bluish-purple, 1-seeded, stalked, and with thin fleshy layers; HABITAT streams, washes, and canyons; nearly throughout the Southwest; blooming February to May.

REFERENCES: Desert olive (Forestiera pubescens var. pubescens = Forestiera neomexicana): fruits Austin (p. 180) and Castetter (1936 p. 44).