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Published In: Systema Vegetabilium. Editio decima quarta 164. 1784. (May-Jun 1784) (Syst. Veg. (ed. 14)) Name publication detailView in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 8/11/2017)
Acceptance : Accepted
Project Data     (Last Modified On 7/9/2009)
Status: Introduced

 

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2. Elaeagnus umbellata Thunb. (autumn olive)

Pl. 374 j, k; Map 1637

Plants shrubs to 3(–5) m, usually multiple-stemmed, rarely with a few thorns. Bark gray to reddish brown, the younger branches densely covered with both rusty and silvery scales. Leaf blades 30–80 mm long, 10–40 mm wide, narrowly elliptic to elliptic, silvery beneath, green above even when young, the silvery undersurface with at least a few scattered, rusty scales. Flowers short-stalked (to 5 mm), 6–8 mm long. Hypanthium (beyond the constricted area above the ovary) 2 or more times as long as the sepals, silvery with scales on the outer surface, the sepals cream-colored to yellow on the inner surface. Mature fruits short-stalked (to 5 mm), 5–8 mm long, circular in outline, more or less translucent, red, with scattered, rusty scales appearing as tiny dots to the naked eye. 2n=28. April–June.

Introduced, scattered, mostly south of the Missouri River, but probably throughout the state (native of Asia; widely naturalized in the eastern U.S. and adjacent Canada west to Nebraska and Louisiana). Mesic upland forests, upland prairies, sand prairies, glades, savannas, and banks of streams; also old fields, pastures, fencerows, roadsides, and open, disturbed areas. April–June.

Autumn olive is popular in horticulture as an ornamental shrub. Although its introduction into North America dates back to the 1830s, beginning in about the 1940s, the federal Soil Conservation Service (since renamed the Natural Resources Conservation Service) and various state conservation agencies began promoting its use as a valuable wildlife food plant and also as a windscreen and for use in erosion control. However, birds and small mammals have spread its seeds into various natural habitats, where it can take over the understory, and the species is now considered an invasive exotic in a number of states. In Missouri, its introduction is relatively recent; the earliest definitely determined collections of plants growing outside of cultivation date back to the 1980s (Yatskievych and Figg, 1989). Smith (1993) indicated that because of widespread planting, E. umbellata is probably now naturalized in most Missouri counties.

Steyermark (1963) tentatively included the superficially similar E. multiflora Thunb. (cherry silverberry) in his treatment, based on a single historical collection from St. Louis County. He stated, however, that this vegetative specimen “cannot be satisfactorily or definitely determined as this species or E. umbellata.” As no further plants have been discovered to verify the presence of this species in Missouri, it is here excluded from the flora (the lone voucher is too incomplete to allow precise determination). Elaeagnus multiflora, which has escaped from cultivation sporadically in several eastern states, including Illinois, differs from E. umbellata in its longer flower and fruit stalks (10–15 mm) and in its shorter hypanthium (about as long as the sepals).

 


 

 
 
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