The majestic and ancient wild olives were once restrained and shaped by the grazers and browsers that reside here on the mountain.
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The young tree has been molded by these animals into a pyramidal shape, manicured like some fancy from a middle English garden.
The tree has reached a critical time in its life where its height precludes more grazing, now it has been freed to grow into its full potential as a veteran tree of the Dehesa, and its tips reach high toward the sun in a freedom of silvan expression.
To its left, one of these veterans looks down with beneficence upon its scion and possible successor in this woodland glade.
Photo: Wild olives in the Dehesa at Saladaviciosa. Courtesy of the author.