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Russian olive
Scientific Name: Elaeagnus angustifolia
Family: Elaeagnaceae
Category: Dicot
Growth: Tree, Shrub
Duration: Perennial
Other Names:
Russian Olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia)
The Russian Olive, scientifically known as Elaeagnus angustifolia, is also commonly referred to as Russian-olive, Oleaster, or simply Russian olive.
Considerations for Pets
- The Russian olive is described as a thorny shrub or small tree.
Considerations for Children
- The Russian olive is described as a thorny shrub or small tree.
- It produces olive-shaped drupes containing one nut.
Taxonomy and Nomenclature
- Scientific Name: Elaeagnus angustifolia L.
- Family: Elaeagnaceae
- The genus Elaeagnus comprises roughly 40 species.
Distribution and Habitat
- Native to western and central Asia, from southern Russia and Kazakhstan to Turkey and Iran, and southeastern Europe.
- It has been planted extensively throughout the U.S.
- It is often found along streams, fields, and roadsides.
Ecological Role
- Considered an invasive species in many places in the United States.
- It thrives on poor soil and has low seedling mortality rates.
- It can quickly take over streambanks, lake shores, and prairies, choking out native vegetation of riparian habitat.
- It tolerates shade and a variety of soil conditions.
- Its spread has led to negative impacts on several native trees and plants.
- It can out-compete native vegetation and interfere with natural plant succession and nutrient cycling.
Morphological Characteristics
- A small, usually thorny shrub or small tree that can grow from 6 to 20 feet tall, occasionally larger reaching up to 35 feet.
- Often leaning or twisted and distorted, with an open crown.
- Twigs are flexible, coated with a gray, scaly pubescence and have a thorn at the end.
- Bark is reddish-brown and thin, with shallow fissures.
- Leaves are silvery-gray, narrow, and lance-shaped.
- It produces olive-shaped drupes containing one nut, which mature from August to October, turning red and then orange as they ripen.
Quirky Facts
- The Russian Olive has been called the Rodney Dangerfield of trees, because it gets "No respect, no respect at all!"
Additional Information
- The fruit of the Russian-olive resembles an olive, and the leaf resembles that of the chaste-tree. Elaeagnus is from the Greek elaia, "olive," and agnos.
- Wood is limited to small sizes, with a highly branching form.
- Fragrant flowers bloom in June.