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§1 Plant — species · Elaeagnaceae

Elaeagnus angustifolia L.

vernacular Russian olive

USDA
ELAN
GBIF
3039269
Rank
species
Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia)
Platephotograph · tejnarayanCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Shrub, Tree
Duration
Perennial
Group
Dicot
Family
Elaeagnaceae Juss.
Genus
Elaeagnus
§2a

Native status, by region

  • CAN Canada Introduced
  • L48 Lower 48 States Introduced

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
High
Shade
High
Moisture use
High
Fire
Low
Salinity
High
Anaerobic
Low
CaCO₃
High
Hedging
High
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-38 °F minimum
Frost-free days
100 min.
Precipitation
12–40 in/yr
pH range
6–9.5
Root depth
20 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
coarse, medium
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Single Stem
Growth rate
Rapid
Lifespan
Long
Mature height
35 ft
Height @ 20 y
35 ft
Foliage texture
Coarse
Foliage colour
White-Gray
Porosity (summer)
Dense
Porosity (winter)
Moderate
Flower colour
Yellow
Fruit colour
Yellow
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
High
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Early Summer
Seed abundance
High
Seed begins
Summer
Seed ends
Fall
Spread rate
Rapid
Stratify
Yes
Seeds / lb
5,160
Propagation
seed, bare root, container
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Routinely Available
Nursery stock
Yes
Browse palatability
Low
Graze palatability
Low
Palatable, human
Yes
Protein potential
Low
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Montana distribution

Recorded in 21 of 56 Montana counties.

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/ELAN ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/3039269 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T16:28:53Z