Botanical Name / Elaeagnus latifolia L.

Shrub, about 3 m high, more or less scandent, with horizontal, often thorny branches. Thorns up to about 3 cm long, strong and woody. Bark greyish white with rusty patches or brown, covered with scales when young. Leaves 1—12 cm long, to 9 cm broad, very variable, elliptic to broadly elliptic, acute or obtuse at base, apex obtuse or rounded or suddenly acute, entire, margin sometimes slightly waved, sometimes undulate, midrib slightly impressed above, young leaves scaly above, older leaves more or less glabrous and dark green above; lower surface densely covered with silvery or rust brown scales. Upper surface sometimes with irregular purplish-brown patches. Petiole 5—15(—18) mm, scaly, channelled above. Flowers silvery white to greenish orange with scattered brown scales, in fascicles of 2—15 in leaf-axils. Bracts c. 2 mm long, filiform. Pedicel 1—3 mm, scaly, elongating in fruit to about 12 mm. Hypanthium about 7 mm long at anthesis; lower part 1.5—2 mm long, narrow, tubular, about 1 mm broad, upper part 3.5—5.5 mm long, 3—3.5 mm broad, campanulate, more or less 4-sided, densely covered with scales, Perianth lobes 2—4 mm long, very broadly ovate, acute, spreading, scaly. Filaments 0.3—1 mm long. Anthers grey-brown, or pale yellow, 0.5—1 mm long. Style 5—7 mm long, densely scaly, particularly at base, very pale green or pale yellow, straight, curved and hook-like at tip. Basal part of hypanthium surrounding achene to make up fruit, upper part and perianth crowning fruit, deciduous. Fruit ovoid-oblong, 1—2.5 cm long, reddish pink to bright red to reddish brown when ripe, scaly, with a pericarp of 3 layers—an outer fleshy layer, a middle hard layer with 8 longitudinal ribs and an inner felt-like layer of compacted hairs. Seeds narrowly ovoid, with a brown papery testa, about 12 mm long. (FOC)

Elaeagnus latifolia var. thwaitesii

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