Burke: Elaeagnus angustifolia vs. Elaeagnus commutata

	Elaeagnus angustifolia	Elaeagnus commutata
	Russian-olive	American silver-berry, wolfberry
Habit	Spreading tree 3-8 m. tall, the branches and trunk armed with 2-6 cm. thorns; young bark shiny brown, old bark gray.	Rhizomatous, unarmed shrubs, spreading to erect, 1-4 m. tall; young branches brownish-scurfy, old branches dark grayish-red.
Leaves	Leaves alternate, linear, 3-7 cm. long, covered with minute scales which give the foliage a silvery appearance.	Leaves alternate, short petiolate, the blades lanceolate to oblanceolate, 2-7 cm. long, acute to obtuse, usually silvery-scurfy on both surfaces.
Flowers	Flowers 1 or more in the leaf axils, perfect, pale yellow; calyx tubular, 4-lobed; petals none; stamens 4, borne near the top of the calyx tube; pistil 1-carpellary, the style short.	Flowers 1-3 in leaf axils or clustered at the base of new twigs; pedicles 1-2 mm. long; hypanthium surrounding, but not adnate to the ovary; calyx 4-lobed; petals wanting; stamens 4, attached near the top of the hypanthium; ovary superior, the wall hardened and longitudinally fluted.
Fruits	Fruit drupe-like, olive-shaped, gray, drying brown.	Drupe obovoid, 9-12 mm. long

	Elaeagnus angustifolia	Elaeagnus commutata
Flowering time	May-July	June-July
Habitat	Weedy escape, especially in riparian areas; often planted historically as a windbreak.	Gravel benches and scabland, commonly along watercourses.
Distribution	Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east across North America to the Atlantic Coast. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]	Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to Washington and California (but not Oregon), east to the Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, and eastern Canada. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Introduced from Eurasia	Native
Conservation status	Not of concern	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	E. commutata, E. umbellata	E. angustifolia, E. umbellata
Web links	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	Local floras: BC, OR, WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Elaeagnus angustifolia

Elaeagnus commutata

Russian-olive

American silver-berry, wolfberry

Habit

Spreading tree 3-8 m. tall, the branches and trunk armed with 2-6 cm. thorns; young bark shiny brown, old bark gray.

Rhizomatous, unarmed shrubs, spreading to erect, 1-4 m. tall; young branches brownish-scurfy, old branches dark grayish-red.

Leaves

Leaves alternate, linear, 3-7 cm. long, covered with minute scales which give the foliage a silvery appearance.

Leaves alternate, short petiolate, the blades lanceolate to oblanceolate, 2-7 cm. long, acute to obtuse, usually silvery-scurfy on both surfaces.

Flowers

Flowers 1 or more in the leaf axils, perfect, pale yellow;

calyx tubular, 4-lobed;

petals none;

stamens 4, borne near the top of the calyx tube;

pistil 1-carpellary, the style short.

Flowers 1-3 in leaf axils or clustered at the base of new twigs; pedicles 1-2 mm. long;

hypanthium surrounding, but not adnate to the ovary;

calyx 4-lobed;

petals wanting;

stamens 4, attached near the top of the hypanthium;

ovary superior, the wall hardened and longitudinally fluted.

Fruits

Fruit drupe-like, olive-shaped, gray, drying brown.

Drupe obovoid, 9-12 mm. long

Elaeagnus angustifolia

Elaeagnus commutata

Flowering time

May-July

June-July

Habitat

Weedy escape, especially in riparian areas; often planted historically as a windbreak.

Gravel benches and scabland, commonly along watercourses.

Distribution

Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east across North America to the Atlantic Coast.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to Washington and California (but not Oregon), east to the Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, and eastern Canada.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Origin

Introduced from Eurasia

Native

Conservation status

Not of concern

Sibling taxa

E. commutata, E. umbellata

E. angustifolia, E. umbellata

Web links