Have you ever noticed this plant?
The “olivarda”, dittrichia viscosa, is a real treasure for the cultivation of olive trees and for organic agriculture.
Although it is sometimes considered a bad weed because it grows wild, the farmers have always known very well that, instead of removing it, we should preserve it.
The olivarda is one of the plants where the main predator of one of the most important pests of olive trees lives: the olive fly.
If we let the olivarda naturally grow near the olive trees, the ecosystem that lives there naturally takes care of regulating and controlling the pests
Herein lies the importance of preserving the vegetal ground cover, the dry stone margins and the view of the land as a complete ecosystem where the olive tree is very well adapted.
Do you want to know another particularity of this plant?
Its chopped leaves can be used to stop bleeding from non-severe wounds.
They could and can help the farmer who is cultivating the land or the animals themselves.
So we can talk not only about pest control, but also knowing these medicinal uses of plants, brings us closer to the field as an organic and interdependent entity.