Elaeagnus angustifolia var. orientalis (L.) Kuntze
IUCN
NCBI
EOL Text
Shrubs or small trees, 3-7(-10) m tall. Bark reddish brown; spines absent or sharp, 0.7-3 cm; young branches and both leaf surfaces silvery white, densely stellate-scaly, or adaxially grayish green or green and nearly without scales (var. virescens). Petiole 5-8 mm, 1/5-1/4 as long as blade; leaf blade oblong-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, sometimes elliptic-lanceolate, ovate, or oblong-ovate, (2.5-)4-8(-10) × 0.4-3.2(-4) cm, adaxially dull green, or both surfaces silvery, with only white scales, base usually broadly cuneate, apex obtuse or subacute. Flowers 1-3 in axils of older leaves. Pedicel short, ca. 2 mm. Flowers fragrant, outside silvery white, with dense white scales and sparse small yellowish glands, inside yellow. Calyx tube campanulate or broadly campanulate (f. culta), ca. as long as limb, 5-6 × 2.5-3(-5) mm; lobes lanceolate, ovate, or triangular-lanceolate, slightly shorter than tube, inside yellow and glabrous, with sparse small brownish glands, distinctly 3-veined, apex ± acute. Filaments short; anthers oblong. Style base enclosed by tubular disk, curved in upper part, ca. as long as calyx. Drupe yellowish brown, globose-ovoid, globose, or subglobose (var. caspica), 0.7-2.5 × 0.5-1.3 cm, densely silvery scaly when young, subglabrous when mature; scales sparse, brownish; flesh sweet, mealy; stone oblong, oblong-ovoid, or narrowly cylindric (f. culta), both ends obtuse or pointed. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Aug-Oct. 2n = 28.
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This species can be found in the following regions of the western United States (according to the Bureau of Land Management classification of Physiographic Regions of the western United States):
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS [14]:
1 Northern Pacific Border
2 Cascade Mountains
3 Southern Pacific Border
4 Sierra Mountains
5 Columbia Plateau
6 Upper Basin and Range
7 Lower Basin and Range
8 Northern Rocky Mountains
9 Middle Rocky Mountains
10 Wyoming Basin
11 Southern Rocky Mountains
12 Colorado Plateau
13 Rocky Mountain Piedmont
14 Great Plains
15 Black Hills Uplift
16 Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands
More info for the terms: adventitious, geophyte, ground residual colonizer, root sucker, secondary colonizer, shrub, tree
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY [166]:
Tree with adventitious bud/root crown/soboliferous species root sucker
Tall shrub, adventitious bud/root crown
Small shrub, adventitious bud/root crown
Geophyte, growing points deep in soil
Ground residual colonizer (on-site, initial community)
Secondary colonizer (on-site or off-site seed sources)
Russian-olive can outcompete native vegetation, interfere with natural plant succession and nutrient cycling, and tax water reserves. Because Russian-olive is capable of fixing nitrogen in its roots, it can grow on bare, mineral substrates and dominate riparian vegetation where overstory cottonwoods have died. Although Russian-olive provides a plentiful source of edible fruits for birds, ecologists have found that bird species richness is actually higher in riparian areas dominated by native vegetation.
Russian-olive is found primarily in the central and western U.S., as well as in the East (e.g., Virginia to Pennsylvania), where it occurs with its exotic partner, autumn-olive (Elaeagnus umbellata). In the West, Russian-olive occurs mainly in the Great Basin Desert region at 800-2000 feet elevation and is also abundant in riparian zones of the Great Plains, for example, the Platte River in Nebraska.
More info for the terms: density, fire frequency, fire regime, frequency, fuel, invasive species, litter, natural, nonnative species, presence, root crown, severity, shrub, top-kill, wildfire
Fire adaptations: There is no information in the literature specifically addressing fire adaptations in Russian-olive. Several workers report that Russian-olive sprouts from the trunk, root crown, and/or roots after top-kill or damage [34,49,52,59,112,140,148,172], and some report sprouting from roots and root crown following fire [35,201].
The hard-coated seed of Russian-olive may require scarification for germination (see Germination), suggesting the possibility of fire scarification. However, this has not been reported in the literature.
The growth habit (i.e. fuel arrangement) of Russian-olive varies among plant communities in which it occurs, depending on site characteristics, size and age of Russian-olive and associated species. Russian-olive stands are sometimes dense thickets of varying size, with scattered mature cottonwood in the canopy [128]. Sometimes stands are so dense that other riparian species are excluded entirely [47,59,81,128,140,168]. On some sites, especially where absence of flooding contributes to Russian-olive invasion, Russian-olive forms a sprawling to dense subcanopy under an overstory canopy of cottonwood [47,128,168]. In some cases, dense growth of Russian-olive may be more fire-prone than native communities that it invades, although this has not been studied or reported in the literature (Also see Growth habit/stand structure).
FIRE REGIMES: Information on FIRE REGIMES in which Russian-olive evolved is lacking. Similarly, there is little quantitative information on prehistoric frequency, seasonality, severity and spatial extent of fire in North American riparian ecosystems, where Russian-olive is commonly invasive. Fire frequency in these ecosystems probably varied with drought cycles, prevalence of lightning strikes, prevalence of burning by Native Americans, and frequency of fires in surrounding uplands. Fire was probably more frequent along rivers in grassland and savanna biomes than in deserts, chaparral shrublands, and conifer forests (see Fire Regime table, below) [188].
Fires in low- to mid-elevation southwestern riparian plant communities dominated by cottonwood, willow and/or mesquite (Prosopis spp.) are thought to have been infrequent [29]. Evidence used to support this supposition includes the high water content of most riparian forests; low fire frequency in much of the surrounding uplands (Sonoran and Mojave deserts, and drier portions of Chihuahuan Desert and Great Basin desert scrub); and suggestions that the dominant trees in these communities, notably Fremont and Rio Grande cottonwood, are not well-adapted to fire [28,61,188]. There remains, however, considerable uncertainty as to the effects of fire on cottonwood [60], with limited and mixed experimental evidence (e.g. [1,13,60,173]). The role of fire in these ecosystems as a whole is not well understood [60,174].
Increases in fire size or frequency have been reported in riparian areas along some southwestern [27,173,174,181] and California [23] rivers in recent decades [188]. These increases are attributed to a number of factors including an increase in ignition sources [23,174,181], increased fire frequency in surrounding uplands (e.g., [22]), increased abundance of fuels [29,60,61,135], and changes in fuel characteristics brought about by invasion of nonnative plant species (also see tamarisk in FEIS).
Several interrelated factors have contributed to increased fuel loads and changes in fuel characteristics in many riparian communities. Disturbance regimes in many southwestern riparian communities have been altered by factors including dams and diversions, groundwater pumping, agriculture, and urban development, all of which have contributed to reduced base flows, lowered water tables, less frequent inundation, and changes in the frequency, timing and severity of flooding [5,64]. The result is a drier floodplain environment where much of the native broad-leaved vegetation becomes senescent or dies, and is replaced by more drought-tolerant vegetation such as tamarisk [5,64,160] and Russian-olive [33,156]. Natural flood regimes that once served to clear away live and dead vegetation and redistribute it in a patchy nature on the floodplain are suppressed, leading to increased build-up and continuity of fuels [29,60,61,135]. Typical stand conditions on the Middle Rio Grande, for example, are now characterized by mature and over-mature Rio Grande cottonwood trees, with accumulations of dead wood and litter on the forest floor [174]. The organic matter that has accumulated on the floor of riparian forests along the middle Rio Grande now averages over 50,000 kg/ha in some areas [123].
The structure of stands supporting nonnative invasive species may carry fire better than that of native vegetation. Saltcedar and Russian-olive can contribute to increased vertical canopy density, creating volatile fuel ladders, thereby increasing the likelihood and impacts of wildfire [174]. The spread of highly flammable, nonnative vegetation such as tamarisk, giant reed (Arundo donax), red brome (Bromus madritensis), and cheatgrass in these communities, "is due partly to the same changes in flow regimes that render riparian areas more flammable, making it difficult to disentangle the effects of the nonnative species from the effects of the management factors that have enhanced their spread" [188].
In summary, the likelihood of fire in southwestern riparian ecosystems is greatest with the combination of flood suppression, water stress, and presence of nonnative species. Additionally, in the absence of flooding, regeneration of native trees is impeded and organic matter accumulates, thus increasing chances for future fires that may further alter the species composition and structure of southwestern riparian forests and promote the spread of fire-tolerant nonnative species [60,61]. Fires have replaced floods as the primary disturbance factor in many southwestern riparian ecosystems. With its ability to sprout following top-kill, and more persistent seed bank, Russian-olive may be better adapted to persist in an environment of frequent fires than native riparian trees. More research is needed to understand Russian-olive's response to fire and its ability to establish and/or persist in the postfire environment.
The following list provides fire return intervals for plant communities and ecosystems where Russian-olive may be important. It may not be all-inclusive. If you are interested in plant communities or ecosystems that are not listed, see the complete FEIS Fire Regime Table.
| Community or Ecosystem | Dominant Species | Fire Return Interval Range (years) |
| maple-beech-birch | Acer-Fagus-Betula | > 1,000 |
| silver maple-American elm | Acer saccharinum-Ulmus americana | < 35 to 200 [195] |
| bluestem prairie | Andropogon gerardii var. gerardii-Schizachyrium scoparium | 104,139] |
| silver sagebrush steppe | Artemisia cana | 5-45 [85,145,202] |
| sagebrush steppe | A. tridentata/Pseudoroegneria spicata | 20-70 [139] |
| basin big sagebrush | A. tridentata var. tridentata | 12-43 [154] |
| mountain big sagebrush | A. tridentata var. vaseyana | 15-40 [8,26,121] |
| Wyoming big sagebrush | A. tridentata var. wyomingensis | 10-70 (40**) [190,205] |
| coastal sagebrush | A. californica | < 35 to < 100 |
| saltbush-greasewood | Atriplex confertifolia-Sarcobatus vermiculatus | < 35 to < 100 |
| desert grasslands | Bouteloua eriopoda and/or Pleuraphis mutica | 5-100 [139] |
| plains grasslands | Bouteloua spp. | 139,202] |
| blue grama-needle-and-thread grass-western wheatgrass | Bouteloua gracilis-Hesperostipa comata-Pascopyrum smithii | 139,152,202] |
| grama-galleta steppe | Bouteloua gracilis-Pleuraphis jamesii | 139] |
| cheatgrass | Bromus tectorum | 141,199] |
| sugarberry-America elm-green ash | Celtis laevigata-Ulmus americana-Fraxinus pennsylvanica | 195] |
| northern cordgrass prairie | Distichlis spicata-Spartina spp. | 1-3 [139] |
| California steppe | Festuca-Danthonia spp. | 139,169] |
| western juniper | Juniperus occidentalis | 20-70 |
| Rocky Mountain juniper | Juniperus scopulorum | < 35 |
| Ceniza shrub | Larrea tridentata-Leucophyllum frutescens-Prosopis glandulosa | 139] |
| wheatgrass plains grasslands | Pascopyrum smithii | 139,145,202] |
| interior ponderosa pine* | Pinus ponderosa var. scopulorum | 2-30 [7,12,109] |
| Arizona pine | P. ponderosa var. arizonica | 2-15 [12,44,155] |
| eastern cottonwood | Populus deltoides | 139] |
| aspen-birch | P. tremuloides-Betula papyrifera | 35-200 [58,195] |
| quaking aspen (west of the Great Plains) | P. tremuloides | 7-120 [7,76,120] |
| mesquite | Prosopis glandulosa | 118,139] |
| mesquite-buffalo grass | P. glandulosa-Buchloe dactyloides | < 35 |
| Texas savanna | P. glandulosa var. glandulosa | 139] |
| black cherry-sugar maple | Prunus serotina-Acer saccharum | > 1,000 [195] |
| mountain grasslands | Pseudoroegneria spicata | 3-40 (10**) [6,7] |
| California oakwoods | Quercus spp. | 7] |
| oak-hickory | Q.-Carya spp. | 195] |
| oak-juniper woodland (Southwest) | Q.-Juniperus spp. | 139] |
| canyon live oak | Q. chrysolepis | <35 to 200 |
| blue oak-foothills pine | Q. douglasii-P. sabiniana | <35 |
| Oregon white oak | Q. garryana | 7] |
| California black oak | Q. kelloggii | 5-30 [139] |
| oak savanna | Q. macrocarpa/Andropogon gerardii-Schizachyrium scoparium | 2-14 [139,195] |
| little bluestem-grama prairie | Schizachyrium scoparium-Bouteloua spp. | 139] |
| elm-ash-cottonwood | Ulmus-Fraxinus-Populus spp. | 58,195] |
*fire return interval varies widely; trends in variation are noted in the species review
**mean
Elaeagnus angustifolia, commonly called silver berry,[1] oleaster,[1] Persian olive,[1] or wild olive,[1] or commonly referred to as Senjid or Sinjid in Afghanistan, is a species of Elaeagnus, native to western and central Asia, Afghanistan, from southern Russia and Kazakhstan to Turkey and Iran. It is now also widely established in North America as an introduced species.
Elaeagnus angustifolia is a usually thorny shrub or small tree growing to 5–7 m in height. Its stems, buds, and leaves have a dense covering of silvery to rusty scales. The leaves are alternate, lanceolate, 4–9 cm long and 1-2.5 cm broad, with a smooth margin. The highly aromatic flowers, produced in clusters of 1-3, are 1 cm long with a four-lobed creamy yellow calyx; they appear in early summer and are followed by clusters of fruit, a small cherry-like drupe 1-1.7 cm long, orange-red covered in silvery scales. The fruits are edible and sweet, though with a dryish, mealy texture. Its common name comes from its similarity in appearance to the olive (Olea europaea), in a different botanical family, Oleaceae.
The shrub can fix nitrogen in its roots,[2] enabling it to grow on bare mineral substrates.
In Iran, the dried powder of the fruits is used mixed with milk for rheumatoid arthritis and joint pains. It is also one of the seven items which are used in Haft Sin or the seven 'S's which is a traditional table setting of Nowruz, the traditional Persian spring celebration.
Cultivation and invasiveness[edit]
Elaeagnus angustifolia was described as Zizyphus cappadocica by John Gerard, and was grown by John Parkinson by 1633,[3] and was also grown in Germany in 1736. It is now widely grown across southern and central Europe as a drought-resistant ornamental plant for its scented flowers, edible fruit, attractive yellow foliage, and black bark.
The species was introduced into North America in the late 19th century, and subsequently escaped cultivation, because its fruits, which seldom ripen in England,[4] are relished by birds which disperse the seeds. Russian-olive is considered to be an invasive species in many places in the United States because it thrives on poor soil, has low seedling mortality rates, matures in a few years, and outcompetes wild native vegetation. It often invades riparian habitats where overstory cottonwoods have died.
Propagation[edit]
Establishment and reproduction of Elaeagnus angustifolia is primarily by seed, although some spread by vegetative propagation also occurs. The fruit is readily eaten and disseminated by many species of birds. The plants begin to flower and fruit from three years old.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d Bailey, L.H.; Bailey, E.Z.; the staff of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium (1976). Hortus third: A concise dictionary of plants cultivated in the United States and Canada. New York: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-02-505470-7.
- ^ Forest Service Fire Ecology
- ^ Alice M. Coats, Garden Shrubs and Their Histories (1964) 1992, s.v. "Eleagnus".
- ^ Parkinson noted that it rarely perfected its fruit (noted by Coats 1992).
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Southeastern Europe and Western Asia
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More info for the terms: climax, density, fire suppression, fresh, fuel, hardwood, interference, natural, reclamation, root crown, shrubs, succession, tree
Russian-olive can establish at early successional stages, on bare, nutrient poor soils, and at later successional stages, under a well-developed canopy. It can persist into later stages of succession and change successional trajectories in the native communities that it invades. For example, it grows equally well beneath a dense cottonwood overstory, in almost pure stands of tamarisk, and in open areas along the Rio Grande River in New Mexico [33,91]. Knopf and Olson [103] observed naturalized Russian-olive individuals growing both within cottonwood floodplain forest and colonizing open wet meadows in several western states. It also occurs (as seedlings, saplings, and mature trees) in cottonwood forests of all ages, from the relatively open canopies of young (5- to 29-year-old) stands to very old (>80-year-old) stands along the Bighorn River in Montana [2].
Early succession: As a nitrogen-fixing, actinorrhizal plant, Russian-olive is likely to be an early-successional, pioneer species, able to colonize nitrogen-poor soils such as sandy, eroded mineral soils and wetlands [40]. As such, Russian-olive has often been used for reforestation and mine reclamation [24,31,90,144,193]. Russian-olive can establish in the postflood environment, but does not tend to dominate on sites with frequent flood disturbance [112].
There is no information in the literature regarding postfire succession in Russian-olive; however, observations by several workers indicate that Russian-olive sprouts from roots and root crown following aboveground damage [34,35,59,163,201], and is therefore likely to colonize on-site in the initial postfire community. If Russian-olive has a persistent seed bank and heat resistant or heat scarified seed, Russian-olive seedlings may also establish in the early postfire environment. More research is needed in this area of Russian-olive's reproductive ecology.
Late succession: The large seed size of Russian-olive provides resources to help seedlings establish under mature canopies. This allows Russian-olive regeneration in riparian areas to be decoupled from flood disturbance, unlike associated native species that depend on seasonal flooding for seedling establishment. Russian-olive is especially able to take advantage of the reduced levels of physical disturbance that characterize riparian habitats downstream from dams [23,96,156] (see Impacts).
Field observations indicate that Russian-olive is relatively tolerant of interference from established native vegetation, invading beneath woody overstories or within herbaceous vegetation [2,16,47,91,101,103,188]. Russian-olive has been recorded growing and reproducing in the understory of mature riparian forests along the Platte River in Nebraska [47], the Rio Grande River in New Mexico [33,60,66,91],and several rivers in Montana [2,111,112]. In fact, along the Marias and Yellowstone rivers in Montana, invasion of riparian communities often depends on proximity to established, mature trees [112].
Understory invasion in mid- and late-successional communities may alter the fuel structure of those communities (see Fire Ecology).
Shade tolerance: Russian-olive grows in either full sunlight or shade, but seems to prefer full sunlight (Cote and others 1988, as cited by [20]). It can establish and persist both in the shade of a mature overstory, in partial shade in margins and gaps, and in the open under full sunlight (see above). Shade tolerance may vary with latitude, although these limits are unclear. It has been suggested that Russian-olive does not thrive in shade in the northern Great Plains [72] or produce fruit in shade in "the north" [16]. Shade tolerance at northern latitudes may be related to age of Russian-olive and to moisture availability.
In eastern Montana, Akashi [2] observed Russian-olive seedlings at all overstory ages along the Bighorn River, though individuals seemed to persist in margins and gaps. On the Marias and Yellowstone rivers, Russian-olive was restricted to the cottonwood understory on dry high terraces but occurred with and without a cottonwood canopy on moist, lower-elevation terraces. Lower terraces along open and little-shaded channels, ditches and other relatively wet sites also provide habitat conducive to Russian-olive establishment and invasion [112].
Succession on Russian-olive-infested sites: Invasion of Russian-olive may alter the successional dynamics of riparian forests in several ways. In much of interior western North America, native riparian forests are dominated by pioneer species (primarily cottonwood and willow species) that are generally intolerant of shade [156] and do not establish within intact vegetation [95]. Russian-olive invades these communities by establishing beneath the canopy of native riparian trees and forming self-replacing stands. Russian-olive also establishes on flood-disturbed sites that are optimal for cottonwood recruitment.
On many western rivers, the absence of fluvial disturbance and lack of recruitment of native riparian trees allows Russian-olive to establish and eventually dominate on many sites at various successional stages [91,96,97,111,112,156]. Invasion of a cottonwood-dominated riparian forest by Russian-olive might proceed as follows on a river system with reduced flood magnitude and frequency: 1) Russian-olive seedlings establish under, or in margins or gaps of the canopy of an existing stand of cottonwoods; 2) as cottonwoods die, Russian-olive becomes the dominant overstory species; and 3) recruitment of Russian-olive seedlings continues in the shade of the new canopy, but cottonwood recruitment is restricted to the narrow, frequently-disturbed margins of the active stream channel, where annual high flows may bury or scour seedlings [156]. In addition to flow regulation, livestock grazing and trampling and selective harvesting by beaver limit recruitment of cottonwood on river floodplains in the northern Great Plains [111,113,140]. Shafroth and others [156] predict that Russian-olive will likely become a more prominent component of western landscapes as the cottonwood canopy of existing stands along regulated rivers is replaced by Russian-olive now present in the understory.
A review by Lesica and Miles [112] describes natural succession on the Marias and Yellowstone rivers in eastern Montana as follows: Cottonwood and willow establish from wind-borne seed on fresh, moist alluvium deposited by floods or channel meandering. Terraces with an understory of willow and a ground layer of hydrophytic plants are dominated by relatively young cottonwoods. As stands became older, periodic deposition raises the ground level higher above the water table. These older stands support an understory dominated by less hydric shrubs and grasses. After 100 to 200 years, cottonwoods die and are replaced by sagebrush or shade-tolerant green ash. Russian-olive may affect this riparian successional sequence by persisting and continuing to reproduce on these upper terraces and dominating the plant community after overstory cottonwoods die. Russian-olive was common along both rivers in stands with plants of many ages, suggesting that Russian-olive, but not cottonwood, recruitment continues to occur under established Russian-olive trees. Conversely, cottonwood establishment and dominance is not precluded on sites where flooding and new channel development continuously create new cottonwood habitat [15,112].
Concentrations of Russian-olive have been observed and mapped on most eastward flowing rivers in Montana, including unregulated rivers. Along the unregulated stretch of Milk River in Montana and Alberta, for example, Russian-olive outnumbers plains cottonwood on many sites between the Alberta/Montana border and the Fresno reservoir [140]. Cottonwood seed dispersal and germination do not appear to be a problem on unregulated reaches, as there were twice as many cottonwood as Russian-olive seedlings; however, successful cottonwood recruitment occurs only once in 5 to 10 years on the Milk River (Bradley and Smith 1986, as cited by [140]). In their study reach, Pearce and Smith [140] estimated attrition from seedling to sapling at 73% for cottonwood and 12% for Russian-olive. Based on present recruitment rates, it appears that Russian-olive will outnumber cottonwood in all size classes along the Milk River study reach within 10 years [140].
In the eastern Great Plains, cottonwood and willow are early successional species and are replaced by a self-sustaining, diverse hardwood forest as natural succession proceeds. In the western Great Plains, forest diversity decreases westward until only the early-successional tree species, cottonwood and willow, remain. Thus, in much of the western Great Plains, the climax native bottomland community is not forest, but shrubland or grassland. Therefore, maintenance of riparian forest in this area is dependent on regular physical disturbance. Since the 1800s, fire suppression and decreases in flow variability caused by water development have allowed Russian-olive and trees from the eastern Plains, especially green ash and eastern redcedar, to establish and persist in western bottomlands where shade-tolerant trees were formerly absent ([68], and references therein). Currier [47] provides an illustration and discussion of successional patterns on the Platte River in Nebraska. In some areas cottonwood dominates the forest canopy while Russian-olive establishes in the understory. Without cottonwood regeneration, Russian-olive, juniper, or mixed hardwood species eventually dominate the forest vegetation. Where Russian-olive establishes in grasslands in this area, sites become progressively elevated and drier over time as a result of overbank deposition, degradation of the river channel, and declines in river stage levels. The oldest Russian-olive stands were found on deep, well-drained soils, on which Russian-olive is apparently no longer able to establish [47].
Along the Rio Grande River in New Mexico, introduction of tamarisk and Russian-olive has changed the successional stages and ultimate dominants in many communities. Russian-olive replaces screwbean mesquite (Prosopis pubescens) in the understory of large Rio Grande cottonwood in phreatophyte communities along the Rio Grande south of Socorro [33], and may be replacing New Mexico olive on more northerly sites [128]. For more information on the effects of Russian-olive on succession in southwestern riparian areas see Habitat Types and Plant Communities.
Longevity: Along the Marias and Yellowstone rivers in eastern Montana, Russian-olive occurred in all size classes along both rivers, and most stands were multiple-aged. The oldest Russian-olives recorded were 36 and 40 years old on the Marias and Yellowstone rivers, respectively. Mean age of Russian-olive stands was 15.3 years on the Marias and 18.6 years on the Yellowstone. The oldest Russian-olive tree was as old or older than the oldest cottonwood in 39% and 14% of the stands on the Marias and Yellowstone rivers, respectively. In many cases these were stands where cottonwoods appeared to have established in fresh alluvium deposited on existing terraces with established Russian-olive [112].
Russian-olive has a low recruitment rate on eastern Montana rivers, and requires about 10 years to reach reproductive maturity; thus, invasion should proceed slowly compared to other aggressive herbaceous or shrubby weeds. Russian-olive has been present on both of the rivers studied for 36 to 40 years, but density in many stands is low [112].
This species is widely grown for its fruit ("Russian Olive," "Trebizond date"), and local cultivars have been developed. It also produces a valuable gum and useful timber, and is used for land reclamation. It can be invasive and has been declared a noxious weed in some parts of North America.
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