Olive
Botanical: Olea europaea
Family: Oleaceae
Homeopathic remedy: Not used.
Description: Olive is a neatly shaped evergreen tree with a dense spreading crown of glossy grey-green to dark-green foliage. Leaves are grey-green to dark-green above and greyish below. The rough, grey bark sometimes peels off in strips. The live is a very resistant tree. It is frost-, drought- and wind-resistant. It can live a very long life. Average life expectancy of an olive tree is between 300 − 600 years. In Israel there live olive trees, that are more than 2000 years old and while appearing old and dry, they still bear fruit. The oldest olive is supposedly a 5000 years old tree that grows in in Pano Vouves, in Kolymvari, Chania.
Medicinal uses: Eye lotions, Diseases of kidneys, High Blood pressure, Diarrhea, Throat inflammation
Keywords: Prostration, Weariness, Exhaustion, Fatigue, Exertion agg.
Compare: Hornbeam
Dr Bach's description: Those who have suffered much mentally or physically and are so exhausted and weary that they feel they have no more strength to make any effort. Daily life is hard work for them, without pleasure.
Essence: The essence of the Olive is the exhaustion that can take the form of either physical or mental fatigue. The cause of such exhaustion can be is the mental or physical overexertion. The aftereffects of such fatigue is the feeling, that everything is too difficult, that there is not enough power to accomplish even the basic tasks and the lack of pleasure in the daily life.
The Olive is quite similar to the Hornbeam remedy, but it is fairly easy to distinguish between these two remedies. Hornbeam is suitable for the mental exhaustion - the exhaustion of the soul. The Hornbeam person is fatigued even before he makes an effort, which means that his soul is tired of the work and the fatigue not usually caused by the overworking, but by the lifestyle and attitude towards the daily life.
The Olive tree is full of energy. It is very resistant and can live a very long life while still bearing fruits. The Bach Flower Essence prepared from the Olive teaches the ways if regenerating powers and replenishing the energy, just like the live trees regenerate in order to live a long and productive life.