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Elaeagnus angustifolia
Also called Oleaster, Russian silverberry, Trebizond Date, Russian Elaeagnus, Elaeagnus
Russian olive is a thorny, silvery-leaved shrub or small tree native to Asia and eastern Europe, grown for its scented flowers, sweet fruit and drought and cold tolerance. It thrives in full sun and tolerates poor, salty or eroded soils.
Elaeagnus angustifolia, commonly called Russian olive, silver berry, oleaster, or wild olive, is a species of Elaeagnus, native to Asia and limited areas of eastern Europe. It is widely established in North America as an introduced species.
E. angustifolia contains the alkaloids harmine, harmane, and harmol in the roots and shoot, as well as calligonine in the bark.
The shrub possesses a high level of salinity tolerance enabling it to grow on bare mineral substrates and poor, eroded soils and environments.
It is widely grown across southern and central Europe as a drought- and cold-resistant ornamental plant for its scented flowers, edible fruit, attractive yellow foliage and black bark. It was grown in England by John Parkinson no later than 1633.
Eastern Silverberry · Cherry silverberry · Hybrid Broad Leaf Oleaster · Autumn olive · Oleaster
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Elaeagnus angustifolia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
