Elaeagnus ×reflexa
Environmental Weed (2024)
Common names
elaeagnus
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Flower colours
Brown, White
Detailed description
Vigorous, often scrambling, dense shrub; stems to about 20m long, covered in peltate or stellate scales. Young shoots, petioles and of midrib beneath with brown scales; older branches often spiny. Petiole 5~13mm long. Lamina 4.5~9 x 1.5~4cm, elliptic, soon becoming glabrous above, with silvery scales beneath, usually dotted with and sometimes densely covered in brown scales; margins undulate to almost flat; base rounded; apex obtuse, acute or shortly acuminate. Fascicles few-flowered; flowers fragrant, generally pendulous. Pedicels 3~7mm long, densely covered in brown scales. Calyx 10~13mm long, abruptly constricted above ovary, covered with mostly silvery and few brown scales outside; lobes 2~4mm long, triangular, acutely ribbed at base in bud. Stamens inserted at apex of tube; filaments very short, hidden behind anthers. Style slightly > calyx tube. Fruit 1.5~1.8 x .8~1cm, oblong, pale reddish-orange, with silver and brown scales. Seed 8-ribbed.
Similar taxa
A scrambling, dense shrub with stems up to approximately 20m long. The stem, young shoots, petioles and lower leaf midribs have scales (Webb et. al. 1988). The plant has arching branches. The leaves are silvery underneath with brown scales. The trumpet flowers are small, cream and fragrant. The fruit is red-orange, oval and berry like. Woody, evergreen climber which can grow to dense thickets up to 10m tall.
Habitat
Terrestrial. A plant of coastal and lowland habitats. The plant grows in sites of moderate to high fertility. The plant spreads from gardens and farms to adjacent trees and shrubs. A plant of scrub and forest margins, also found in secondary forest communities. Low and disturbed forest and forest margins are at risk from the plant. The plant occurs forest margins and coastal areas.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Genus
Family
Ecology
Flowering
March, April, May
Fruiting
May, September.
Year naturalised
1940
Origin
Possibly Japan
Reason for introduction
Ornamental
Tolerances
The plant is intolerant to frost and poor drainage, tolerant to drought and partly tolerant to shade. Seedlings are tolerant of partial shade. Requires medium to high soil fertility (Atkinson 1997).
Life cycle and dispersal
Perennial. Plant is very long-lived, probably to over a century (Fromont and King, 1992).The plant self-seeds. Seed is dispersed by birds and vertebrate animals.
Other information
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.