Russian olive

Elaeagnus angustifolia · Aquatic plants

Whole plant · Photo: Billi Krochuk / CC BY

InvasiveShoreline

Also called Oleaster

State noxious weed listing

Wyoming: State designated noxious weed

How to identify Russian olive

Shrub or small tree 10 to 30 feet, often with crooked, leaning trunks and dark, shreddy bark
Alternate, narrow, lance shaped leaves, gray green above and silvery scaly underneath
Young twigs silvery, often with sharp thorns up to about 2 inches long
Small, fragrant, yellow bell shaped flowers in late spring
Olive shaped fruit about 1/2 inch long, silvery to tan, with mealy, sweet flesh

Similar plants

Native silver buffaloberry is also thorny and silvery but has opposite leaves and red berries, and native silverberry has no thorns and leaves silvery on both sides; willows have no silvery scales and bear catkins.

Growth profile

Growing season	Leafs out in April and May, flowers May and June, and fruit ripens in late summer and fall and often hangs on into winter.
Starts growing	Spring
Light	Full sun to part shade; tolerates more shade than willows and cottonwoods
Depth	Moist to fairly dry banks above the waterline; tolerates seasonal flooding
How it spreads	Seeds spread by birds, other animals and water; root suckers; resprouts from cut stumps
Habitat	Pond, reservoir and canal banks, river floodplains, irrigation ditches, wet pastures and alkaline flats, mostly in drier, lower elevation valleys; also planted in windbreaks.

Why it matters in a lake

Forms dense, thorny thickets along ponds, ditches and rivers that can crowd out native willows and cottonwoods and make shorelines hard to reach. Cut trees resprout from the stump and roots, so stumps need to be treated right away, with an aquatic labeled product near water. Listed as a noxious weed in Wyoming, but not on the Idaho or Oregon state lists.