Plant Family: Elaeagnaceae
Growth Form: Open branching shrub to 3 meters tall.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, elliptic, with wavy margins, green above, silvery white beneath, leaves and twigs covered with minute stellate scales.
Bark: Brown to gray with small lenticels, sharp thorny spur branches are often present.
Flowers: White to light yellow, with a long tubular corolla and 4 terminal lobes, in clusters in the leaf axils, very fragrant, June to July.
Fruits: Red, ovoid berries covered with silvery scales, edible and juicy, eaten by birds and small mammals, August to September.
Habitat: Thickets, fields, roadsides, disturbed sites, in full sun.
Range: The native range is East Asia including Japan; it was widely planted in the eastern U.S. in the 20th century to help re-colonize human disturbed habitats and to prevent erosion, before its invasive nature was well known.
Similar Species: Russian Olive has narrower leaves and the fruits are greenish yellow to light brown.
Comments: Listed as invasive in all New England states except Vermont; sale and cultivation prohibited in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.
