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Elaeagnus pungens

Common Name: silverthorn

Family: Elaeagnus pungens

Common Synonyms: none

USDA Hardiness Zone: 7a-9b

Growth Habit: Evergreen, thorny, quickly growing shrub

Origin: China and Japan

FISC Category: 2

FDACS Listed Noxious Weed: No

Introduction Date: 1800's

IFAS Assessment:

  • North: INVASIVE
  • Central: INVASIVE
  • South: INVASIVE
Close up of leaves showing silvery and rusty scales
Brenda Herring
Vining habit shown
Brenda Herring

Description

Planted as a landscape plant for its ability to quickly grow into hedges. Evergreen, thorny shrub that grows 1 to 8 m high. Grows upright or can be viney or climbing in habit. Stems and bark red-brown in color. Leaves alternate, lance-shaped with entire-wavy margins and are 5 to 10 cm long and 0.5 to 5 cm wide. Scales are present on both leaf surfaces with upper waxy green and lower silver. Flowers are small (0.5-1.5 cm long), white-pale yellow, shaped like a bell, and have a sweet aroma. Flowering occurs in the fall with 1 to 3 flowers per axillary cluster. Fruits are round, red, drupes that are covered in silver scales.

Habitat

Can tolerate a wide range of habitats due to its tolerance of salt, shade, and drought including coastal grasslands, beach dunes, hammocks, and ruderal settings.

Comments

Introduced as an ornamental landscape plant. Can hybridize with native Elaeagnus commutata of N and W US, which can change ecosystem functions. Planted as a landscape plant for its ability to quickly grow into hedges.

Map of species distribution

Control Methods

  • Manual: Mechnical: repeated tilling or mowing
  • Chemical: Foliar treatments using solutions of glyphosate or imazapyr with a surfactant in water. Upper stems and young bark basal spray treatments using a 20% triclopyr ester in a petroleum base (mineral oil), large stems and freshly cut stumps can be treated with 10% imazapyr, 50% triclopyr amine, or 20% glyphosate in water with a non-ionic surfactant. [CAIP]
  • Biological: No known biological control

Control Notes

Remove all plants prior to seed production

References

IFAS, Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants. 2017. Elaeagnus pungens. http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/plant-directory/elaeagnus-pungens/Accessed September 19, 2017.

IFAS, UF. 2017. Assessment of Non-Native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas. Elaeagnus pungens. https://assessment.ifas.ufl.edu/assessments/elaeagnus-pungens/Accessed September 19, 2017.

Langeland, K.A. and K. Craddock Burks. 1998. Identification and Biology of Non-Native Plants in Floridas Natural Areas. IFAS Publication SP 257. University of Florida, Gainesville. 165 pp.

Dave's Garden. 2017. PlantFiles: silverthorn (Elaeagnus pungens). http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/56674/Accessed September 19, 2017.

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