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November 13, 2005 : Elaeagnus glabra
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Keywords: Elaeagnaceae | Elaeagnus glabra Thunb. | 24920-0522-1986
Smooth oleaster is often described as a shrub, but it's not a typical shrub; it's best described as a climbing shrub or a sarmentose shrub (Dr. Jim Croft's Botanical Glossary defines sarmentose as “producing long, flexuose runners or stolons”). The long, extending branches act in a vine-like fashion, scrambling up nearby trees and hooking onto tree limbs. The second photograph shows a branch that has flopped away from the main plant, seeking outward to find yet another victim to climb up; the growing tip of the branch is to the left of the image. If the branch were upright, the small hook-like branchlet in the centre of the photograph would be pointing down, perfect for latching on and supporting the vine-like branch.
Douglas Justice describes the tubular flowers of smooth oleaster as “intensely fragrant – gardenia-like with a hint of orange blossom” (and they were). I should add that it took quite a few sessions to capture an acceptable image of the flowers, as the glossy foliage in poor light conditions kept on throwing off the exposure settings with the small point-and-shoot camera I was using at the time.
Botany resource link: Plants and Us is a top-notch site that simply and directly presents the utility of plants in a number of categories with “top ten lists”, e.g., the top ten in plants and economics. If anyone ever says to you, “But plants are boring! What good are they?”, direct them to the Plants and Us site.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at November 13, 2005 12:00 AM
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Posted by: Beverley Merryfield at November 13, 2005 9:07 AM
2002 edition of Hillier manual calls this Asian species "first-class", also says it resembles E. macrophylla "but with narrower leaves".
Posted by: Ron B at November 13, 2005 10:40 AM
This is another one of your truly phenomenal floral close-ups.
Posted by: Anthony at November 13, 2005 7:02 PM
I am having trouble translating the Latin here. Is there a published source of the Latin meanings of the Latin Names? Agnus = lamb; glabra = hairless or smooth, but the elae stumps me. E= out of but the lae or elae escapes me.
Posted by: Chris Denton at November 13, 2005 9:26 PM
Elaeagnus was the name used by the ancient Greek botanist Theophrastus for the Salix caprea, or Goat Willow. However, he must have thought of it as a kind of olive, because elaea means olive. Many members of this genus have olive as part of their common name, such as Russian Olive, common in the western US. They are not true olives, however, and I have been told that their fruits are not the kind of thing you would want to put in a martini. Hope that helps, Chris. Many of these names are Greek rather than Latin, and quite a few of them are invented latinizations of modern proper names, so the standard Latin dictionaries don't always have them.
Posted by: Anthony at November 14, 2005 1:39 AM
Jacobson, NORTH AMERICAN LANDSCAPE TREES says "The elaiagnos of Theophrastus was originally applied to a willow, from helodes (growing in marshes) and hagnos (pure, chaste, holy) referring to the cottony-white seed masses of the tree."
Posted by: Ron B at November 18, 2005 10:20 PM
I am passionate with plants and I learn with you.
I have an elaeagnus plenty of fruits- it is said in the RHS dictionnary they are edible, but I don't try.
I send yu the photos I took last week
Posted by: Riez Francine at November 13, 2009 12:54 PM
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Elaeagnus glabra - Z8, RHS Index of Garden Plants, Griffiths