Autumn-Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata var. parvifolia)

Plantae>Magnoliophyta>Magnoliopsida>Rhamnales>Elaeagnaceae>Elaeagnus umbellata Thunb. var. parvifolia (Royle) Schneider

Autumn-Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata var. parvifolia) flowers

Autumn-Olive or Silverberry is a fairly common to abundant evergreen large shrub or small tree from eastern Asia. One of our worst invasive weed problems.

Chapel Hill, NC 5/2/09.

Autumn-Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata var. parvifolia) flowers

Autumn-Olive blooms in the spring and fruit ripens in fall, unlike Thorny-Olive (E. pungens), which blooms in fall and fruits in the spring.

The leaves are densely covered with silvery scales beneath and have scattered silvery scales above. The petioles and young branchlets are also covered with silvery scales.

Chapel Hill, NC 5/2/09.

Autumn-Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata var. parvifolia)

The small yellow flowers have a sickly-sweet aroma.

Autumn-Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata var. parvifolia) bark

Bark detail.

More information:
Exotic Pest Plants of Southeastern Forests
The Nature Conservancy
Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk
University of Connecticut
Virginia Tech Dendrology

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cwcook@duke.edu

All photographs and text ©2009 by Will Cook unless otherwise indicated.