Burke: Elaeagnus angustifolia vs. Elaeagnus umbellata

	Elaeagnus angustifolia	Elaeagnus umbellata
	Russian-olive	autumn olive
Habit	Spreading tree 3-8 m. tall, the branches and trunk armed with 2-6 cm. thorns; young bark shiny brown, old bark gray.	Deciduous shrub 4-6 m. tall, spreading and often wider than tall, the shoots and leaves with brown and silvery scales.
Leaves	Leaves alternate, linear, 3-7 cm. long, covered with minute scales which give the foliage a silvery appearance.	Leaves alternate, lanceolate to oval, 5-10 cm. long.
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 6-8 mm. long, on pedicles in the leaf axils; calyx tube much longer than it 4 lobes, pale rose within and silvery-scaly outside; petals none; stamens 4; ovary 1-celled.
Fruits	Fruit drupe-like, olive-shaped, gray, drying brown.	Drupe globose, 6-8 mm. in diameter, silvery, becoming red.

	Elaeagnus angustifolia	Elaeagnus umbellata
Flowering time	May-July	June-July
Habitat	Weedy escape, especially in riparian areas; often planted historically as a windbreak.	Introduced from eastern Asia as ornamental shrub, occasionally escaping in disturbed areas and waste ground.
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 in scattered locations on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to Oregon, also in Montana; central and eastern North America. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Introduced from Eurasia	Introduced from eastern Asia
Conservation status	Not of concern	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	E. commutata, E. umbellata	E. angustifolia, E. commutata
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 umbellata

Russian-olive

autumn olive

Habit

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

Deciduous shrub 4-6 m. tall, spreading and often wider than tall, the shoots and leaves with brown and silvery scales.

Leaves

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

Leaves alternate, lanceolate to oval, 5-10 cm. long.

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 6-8 mm. long, on pedicles in the leaf axils;

calyx tube much longer than it 4 lobes, pale rose within and silvery-scaly outside;

petals none;

stamens 4;

ovary 1-celled.

Fruits

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

Drupe globose, 6-8 mm. in diameter, silvery, becoming red.

Elaeagnus angustifolia

Elaeagnus umbellata

Flowering time

May-July

June-July

Habitat

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

Introduced from eastern Asia as ornamental shrub, occasionally escaping in disturbed areas and waste ground.

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 in scattered locations on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to Oregon, also in Montana; central and eastern North America.

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Origin

Introduced from Eurasia

Introduced from eastern Asia

Conservation status

Not of concern

Sibling taxa

E. commutata, E. umbellata

E. angustifolia, E. commutata

Web links