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| ## american silverberry {#american-silverberry .Title-Header}         |
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| *Elaeagnus commutata* Bernh. ex Rydb.                                 |
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| Plant Symbol = ELCO                                                   |
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####### *Contributed By: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center & the Biota of North America Program*

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height="3.560416666666667in"}

## Alternate common names

Silverberry, wolf-willow

## Uses

*Wildlife/Livestock*: American silverberry is an important wildlife food
for moose, elk, mule deer and white-tailed deer, pronghorn, upland game
birds, small nongame birds, small mammals, and waterfowl. Its
palatability is rated poor for cattle and horses and fair for sheep.
American silverberry also provides protection and nesting cover for
these same animals, particularly in grasslands and other mostly open
habitats. In mature White Spruce forests of the Yukon Territory, it
provides important habitat for snowshoe hares.

*Ethnobotany*: The fleshy fruit of American silverberry is cooked in
moose fat and eaten by some Alaskan natives. The pits of the fruits are
used as necklace beads in the Fort Yukon region of Alaska.

*Conservation*: The vigorous rhizomatous habit of American silverberry
helps it spread quickly in disturbed sites, and it has been used for
soil stabilization of mine spoils in British Columbia and Alberta.
Pre-inoculation with mycorrhizal and nitrogen-fixing symbionts may
result in more rapid revegetation.

## Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural
Resources for this plant's current status, such as, state noxious status
and wetland indicator values.

## Description

*General*: Oleaster family (Elaeagnaceae). Long-lived shrubs, growing
1-4 m tall, rarely small trees, strongly rhizomatous, and stoloniferous,
sometimes forming thickets or loose colonies, the branches thornless,
reddish brown, sparsely to densely covered with silvery scales. Leaves
are deciduous, simple, alternate, 2-10 cm long, ovate to oblong or
ovate-lanceolate, wedge-shaped at base, short petioled, both surfaces
covered by minute, silver scales, sometimes with scattered brown scales
beneath. Flowers are bisexual or unisexual, sweet-scented, short-stalked
in lateral clusters of 1-3 on twigs of the current year; petals absent,
the sepals forming a 4-lobed tube from the top of the developing fruit
(the ovary inferior), yellowish inside, silvery outside, 12-15 mm long.
Fruits are ovate to ellipsoid, 8-10 mm long, silvery-covered with a dry
mealy flesh covering a single, ellipsoid stone. North American native
with fruits covered by silver scales.

## Distribution

American silverberry is distributed across northern North America, from
Alaska, Yukon Territory, and the Northwest Territories through Canada,
except for the easternmost provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia,
Newfoundland), and in the United States from Washington to Minnesota and
southward to northeastern Utah and Colorado. "Escapes" (presumably from
cultivation) occur in Texas and Kentucky. Although the species is
wide-ranging, the plants usually are uncommon to rare and local where
they occur. For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile
page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.

## Adaptation 

American silverberry commonly occurs in riparian communities along
watercourses and is ranked as a facultative wetland species in Alaska.
It also grows in open grasslands and a variety of open forests and
thickets. Because of its relative shade intolerance, it usually is found
in open vegetation, particularly where soil disturbance has occurred. It
is a dominant species and indicator of relatively young (6-19 years old)
quaking aspen parkland communities in the Canadian Prairie Provinces.
The tough leaves, with their dense and close cover of scales, probably
are at least partially responsible for the drought resistance of
silverberry. Plants also are wind resistant and tolerate temperatures
down to about -40°C.

Although it grows best in loamy soils, American silverberry is commonly
found in dry, sandy or gravelly soils, including those highly
susceptible to erosion. The species occurs over a wide range of
elevation (300-8000 feet). Flowering in June-August; fruiting mostly
August-October.

## Establishment

Seeds are produced in good crops every 1-2 years. They remain viable 1-2
years or more and germination may require a natural stratification
period of nearly two years. Birds are the primary seed dispersers.
American silverberry also reproduces and spreads by rhizomes.

Plants cut back severely to old wood can still regenerate. Cuttings are
slow and difficult to root, usually requiring at least 12 months for
good establishment.

## Management 

American silverberry fixes nitrogen, some of which is available to
plants of other species growing nearby. In rough fescue grasslands,
silverberry at 1,000 stems per acre increases forage production. It can
be grown in orchards to increase yields from fruit trees by up to 10%.

American silverberry is an "increaser" species on overgrazed cattle
rangelands, and where silverberry was a minor component 20 years ago in
rough fescue grasslands of Alberta and Saskatchewan, it is now widely
distributed. Frequent sheep browsing or mowing, however, reduce
silverberry cover. Many passerine bird species are attracted to
mixed-grass prairie with interspersed silverberry cover and reduction of
silverberry results in reduced or altered composition of bird
communities.

In native grasslands, American silverberry is often controlled with
herbicides or fire. It is top-killed by most fires and is probably
completely killed by severe fires. In the Canada Great Plains, American
silverberry is described as a species \"seriously harmed by spring and
fall burns.\" Plants sprout from rhizomes after fire, and although
numbers of plants may increase after fire, cover usually decreases and
recovers slowly. Presettlement fires probably occurred every 5-10 years
in grasslands where American silverberry is a common shrub. More
frequent burning reduces silverberry cover, but patches of shrubs can be
maintained by employing partial burns.

## Pests and Potential Problems

American silverberry is heavily rusted in Canada and is also a host for
pycnia and aecia of *Puccinia coronata* (crown rust) and *Puccinia
caricis-sherpherdiae*. An unidentified species of *Calamagrostis* was
found to be a uredinial and telial host for *Puccinia coronata* found on
*E. commutata*.

## Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

These plant materials are readily available from commercial sources.
Contact your local NRCS office for more information.

## References

Abrams, L. 1951. *Illustrated flora of the Pacific Northwest.* Vol. III.
Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, California.

Bailey, A.W. 1970. *Barrier effect of the shrub Elaeagnus commutata on
grazing cattle and forage production in central Alberta*. J. Range
Managemt. 23:248-251.

Esser, L.L. 1994. *Elaeagnus commutata*. In: W.C. Fischer, compiler. The
Fire Effects Information System \[Data base\]. U.S. Dept. of Agric.,
Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Intermountain Fire
Sciences Lab., Missoula, Montana.
\<http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/\>

Graham, S.A. 1964. *The Elaeagnaceae in the southeastern United States.*
J. Arnold Arb. 45:274-278.

Scianna, J.D. (Sept.) 1999. *Description, propagation and use of
silverberry (Elaeagnus commutata). Montana Technical Note 33*. USDA,
NRCS Bridger Plant Materials Center, Bridger, Montana. 5p.

Soper, J.H. & M.L. Heimburger 1982. *Shrubs of Ontario*. Life Sciences
Misc. Publ. Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Stephens, H.A. 1973. *Woody plants of the North Central Plains*. The
University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.

Vories, K.C. 1981. *Growing Colorado plants from seed: a state of the
art*. Vol. I. Shrubs. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-103. U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment
Station, Ogden, Utah.

Watson, L.E., R.W. Parker, & D.F. Polster 1980. *Manual of plant species
suitablity for reclamation in Alberta*. Vol. 2. *Forbs, shrubs and
trees*. Land Conservation and Reclamation Council. Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada.

## Prepared By

*Guy Nesom*

BONAP, North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill, North Carolina

## Species Coordinator

### *Larry Holzworth*

USDA, NRCS, Montana State Office, Bozeman, Montana

Edited 19sep00 jsp;10feb03 ahv; 10aug03jsp; 25may06jsp

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your
local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS
Web site\<[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)\> or the
Plant Materials Program Web site
\<[http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov](http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov/)\>

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