Elaeagnus conferta Seeds | Bastard Oleaster
LATIN NAME: Elaeagnus conferta
COMMON NAME: Bastard Oleaster, Dense-Flowered Oleaster
Plant Profile
Elaeagnus conferta is a scrambling evergreen shrub of the oleaster family, native to the hill forests of southern China, India and South-East Asia. It climbs by long arching shoots, sometimes reaching ten metres into a tree, and its leaves are dark green above and covered in silvery scales beneath.
The flowers are small, cream and intensely fragrant, hanging in dense clusters in autumn, and the fruit is an oval berry, pink and speckled with silver dots, ripe in late winter. It is tart, slightly astringent and pleasant once fully soft. The young shoots are covered in brown scales, and the plant can climb a fence or a tree without support once established.
Science & Biotechnology
The oleasters are actinorhizal: they form nodules on their roots in partnership with Frankia, a filamentous bacterium that fixes atmospheric nitrogen. That is why the genus colonises poor, sandy and disturbed ground so effectively, and why it is used in land reclamation and in mixed plantings.
The silver underside of the leaf is a layer of peltate scales that reflects light and reduces water loss, a common adaptation in plants of dry or coastal sites. Fruit sugar content rises sharply in the last three weeks of ripening, and fruit picked early tastes of nothing but tannin.
Uses & Benefits
Fruit is eaten fresh, and in southern China it is also made into a sour preserve and a fermented drink. The seed is large and hard and is discarded. Because the berry is astringent until fully ripe, it is usually left on the bush until it darkens and softens.
The shrub is grown as an ornamental for its scent and its silver foliage, and as a screening plant on difficult ground. It is also used in traditional medicine for cough, but there is no clinical work to support the use and the fruit is the only part worth eating. The fruit is also fermented into a sharp country wine in parts of Yunnan, and the flowers are picked for the scent before the berries set.
Growing from Seed
Seed needs a period of cold and germinates unevenly over several months. Clean the fruit, sow in autumn in a gritty mix, and keep the pots outdoors through winter. Cuttings of half-ripe wood in late summer are quicker and give a flowering plant sooner.
The plant tolerates almost any soil, including sand and light salinity, and it will grow in sun or half shade. It is vigorous and needs hard pruning to keep it as a bush rather than a thicket, and it can smother neighbouring shrubs if left alone. In mild climates it may seed about, so fruit should be picked before it falls. In mild coastal climates it will seed into hedges, so fruit is best picked before it falls.
Our Take
A tough, fragrant shrub for a difficult corner, worth growing for the winter scent and the late fruit, and worth pruning hard every second year.
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