Elaeagnus macrophylla seed

LATIN NAME: Elaeagnus macrophylla

COMMON NAME: Broad-Leaved Elaeagnus

The broad-leaved elaeagnus is a handsome, spreading, many-branched, evergreen shrub of the warm places, and its fine, oval or roundish, silvery, wavy-margined leaves and its small, fragrant, silvery-white, tubular flowers, followed by the small, round, silvery, edible fruits, have made it a treasured and fine shrub of the garden. It grows as a spreading, many-branched, evergreen shrub, reaching up to three metres or so, with the spreading, branching stems bearing the alternate, oval or roundish, wavy-margined leaves that are silvery and scaly beneath and, through the autumn, the small, fragrant, silvery-white, tubular flowers, followed by the small, round, silvery or orange, sweet, edible fruits of the single seed. It is a species of the flowering shrub in the oleaster family, and it is native to the warm places of the eastern Asia, while it is grown as a treasured shrub, and it is known as the broad-leaved elaeagnus.

In the oleaster family it is the silvery-leaved, nitrogen-fixing shrub of the warm places, a plant that feeds the soil as it feeds the birds.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The broad-leaved elaeagnus has a recognised place in the plant-science papers on the nitrogen-fixing shrubs, and the quiet partnership between its roots and the soil bacteria has kept the ecologists interested for years. The food scientists have looked at the small, sweet, tangy fruits as a fine fruit of the region, and the botanists have mapped its place in the oleaster family and the warm flora of the eastern Asia. The horticulturists have grown the silvery, evergreen, fragrant shrub for the garden and the coastal garden, and the growers of the tough evergreen shrubs keep it in their catalogues.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the coastal garden, the broad-leaved elaeagnus is the silvery shrub that thrives where others struggle. Its small, fragrant flowers feed the bees of the autumn, its sweet fruits feed the birds, and the dense, silvery, evergreen growth gives cover and shelter through the year. The small, sweet fruits are enjoyed as a fine fruit of the region, and the shrub grows well in the sandy, well-drained, sunny ground. Silvery, fragrant and salt-tolerant.

Press the seeds onto the surface of pots of sandy, free-draining soil at a shallow depth, keep the pots in a bright, open spot and water them gently, and they’ll soon be up.