Elaeagnus umbellata
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| Elaeagnus umbellata Thunb. |
Elaeagnus umbellata, also referred to as Japanese Silverberry, Umbellate Oleaster or Autumn-olive, is a species of Elaeagnus native to eastern Asia from the Himalayas east to Japan. Because airborne nitrogen can be fixed in its roots, it has the capability to grow in infertile habitats.
It is a deciduous shrub or small tree growing to 4-10 m tall, with a dense, thorny crown. The leaves are alternate, 4-10 cm long and 2-4 cm wide, entire but with a waved margin they are silvery when they leaf out early in spring due to numerous tiny, scales, but turning greener above as the silvery scales wear off through the summer (unlike the related E. angustifolia, which remains silvery to leaf fall). The flowers are clustered 1-7 together in the leaf axils, fragrant, with a four-lobed pale yellowish-white 1 cm long corolla. The fruit is round to oval drupe 1 cm long, silvery-scaled orange ripening red dotted with silver or brown. When ripe, the fruit is juicy and edible. It is small, extremely numerous, tart-tasting, and it has a chewable seed. It has been shown to have from 7 to 17 times the amount of the antioxidant lycopene that tomatoes have. Lycopene has been consistently shown to be useful in decreasing the risk of prostate cancer.
It has been introduced to North America, where it has become an invasive species. It can harm native plants normally protected from competition by the inability of most other plants to tolerate extremely low levels of nitrogen in the soil.
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