page_title: Elaeagnus angustifolia
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Elaeagnus angustifolia / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Lepidote scales on Elaeagnus angustifolia
context_page_description: Elaeagnus angustifolia, commonly called Russian olive, silver berry, oleaster, or wild olive, is a species of Elaeagnus, native to western and central Asia, Iran, from southern Russia and Kazakhstan to Turkey, and parts of Pakistan. It is now also widely established in North America as an introduced species.
context_section_description: Elaeagnus angustifolia is a usually thorny shrub or small tree growing to 5–7 m (16–23 ft) in height. Its stems, buds, and leaves have a dense covering of silvery to rusty scales. The leaves are alternate, lanceolate, 4–9 cm (1 ¹⁄₂–3 ¹⁄₂ in) long and 1.0–2.5 cm (³⁄₈–1 in) broad, with a smooth margin. The highly aromatic flowers, produced in clusters of one to three, are 1 cm long with a four-lobed creamy yellow calyx; they appear in early summer and are followed by clusters of fruit, a small cherry-like drupe 1.0–1.7 cm (³⁄₈–¹¹⁄₁₆ in) long, orange-red covered in silvery scales. The fruits are sweet, though with a dryish, mealy texture.
  The shrub can fix nitrogen in its roots, enabling it to grow on bare mineral substrates.
caption: Lepidote scales on E. angustifolia that give the leaf surface a silvery sheen
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