Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata)

Key Identification Features

• Oval or lanceolate leaves with wavy margins

  • Dull green with a silvery underside

• Cream or light yellow flowers in summer

• Clusters of bright red berries with silvery specks in September

Description

Autumn olive is a sizeable deciduous tree or shrub capable of growing up to 20ft and 30ft wide. Their leaves are alternate and typically oval to lanceolate with wavy margins. The tops of the leaves are dull green with a silvery underside. The bark is smooth in younger plants but becomes furrowed as it matures. Autumn olive also produces long thorns on its branches, some several inches long.

Autumn olive flowers in early summer, producing small but fragrant cream or light yellow flowers. These flowers mature into clusters of bright red berries with silver specks around September.

Native Range

Autumn olive is native to Eastern Asia and was brought over to the U.S. in the 1800s. It was widely planted for erosion control in the 1950s.

Habitat and Dispersion

Autumn olives are drought resistant and inhabit a variety of open habitats such as fields, forest edges, disturbed areas, etc. They tend to need well-drained soil and don’t usually do well in wet areas.

Individual plants can produce as many as 200,000 seeds in a season and their berries are an attractive food source for birds that help spread its seeds. As Autumn olives mature they can shade out native plants and alter the soil chemistry through Allelopathy, making it unsuitable for native plants.

Best Management Practices

Smaller plants can be removed by hand, but care must be taken to remove the roots as well to avoid it resprouting. Large plants will likely have to be cut and herbicide applied, multiple treatments may be necessary.

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Additional Resources

WNY PRISM Species Page

APIPP Species Page

Lower Hudson Species Page

NY Flora Atlas

The Nature Conservancy