The Olive tree of Vouves (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 Ελιά Βουβών) is an olive

Olive

The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...

 tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

 in the village of Ano Vouves in Municipality of Kolymbari

Kolymvari

Kolymvari , also known as Kolymbari , is a town and former municipality in the Chania peripheral unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Platanias, of which it is a municipal unit. It was part of the former Kissamos province which covered the...

 in Chania Prefecture

Chania Prefecture

Chania is one of the four regional units of Crete; it covers the westernmost quarter of the island. Its capital is the city of Chania. Chania borders only one other regional unit: that of Rethymno to the east. The western part of Crete is bounded to the north by the Cretan Sea, and to the west...

 in Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

 in Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. It is known to be the oldest olive tree in the world and still produces olives today. The use of tree ring analysis

Dendrochronology

Dendrochronology or tree-ring dating is the scientific method of dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree-rings. Dendrochronology can date the time at which tree rings were formed, in many types of wood, to the exact calendar year...

 has proven the tree to be at least 2000 years old. On the other end of the scale, scientists from the University of Crete

University of Crete

The University of Crete ' is the principal higher education institution on the island of Crete, Greece.The University of Crete, is a multi-disciplinary, research- oriented institution, located in the cities of Rethymno and Heraklion...

 has estimated it to be 4,000 years old. The trunk has a perimeter

Perimeter

A perimeter is a path that surrounds an area. The word comes from the Greek peri and meter . The term may be used either for the path or its length - it can be thought of as the length of the outline of a shape. The perimeter of a circular area is called circumference.- Practical uses :Calculating...

 of 12.5 m and a diameter

Diameter

In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints are on the circle. The diameters are the longest chords of the circle...

 of 4.6 m. It belongs to the variety tsounati. It is considered by some a natural monument

Natural Monument

A natural monument is a natural or natural/cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities or cultural significance....

.

External links

• MNN.com - "The world's 10 oldest living trees"
• Fulghum R.
  Robert Fulghum
  Robert Lee Fulghum is an American author, primarily of short essays.He has worked as a Unitarian Universalist minister .During this same period he taught drawing,...
  
  , Third Wish
  Third Wish
  Third Wish is the first novel by inspirational writer Robert Fulghum. In his own words, it is the kind of novel that he personally would like to read. Third Wish was first published in Czech by the Prague publisher , and was released in November 2004, as supported by a personal appearance by...
  
  - one chapter is about this tree
• information table in front of this tree
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicnac/1923641205/ - "photo of the world's oldest olive tree, Ano Vouves"