Silverberry

Elaeagnus × submacrophylla

An evergreen shrub growing to 4m tall. Most species in the genus are native to Asia.

Happy in full sun or part shade, silverberry is well suited to the medium strata in syntropic agroforestry in both temperate and subtropical parts of the country.

It responds very well to pruning and is fairly fast growing, it is well suited to a food forest system and can provide mulch for other plants. It can also be used as a hedge or windbreak.

The highly nutritious fruit are small and sweet, juicy, somewhat tangy, and have a slightly resinous flavour. A delicious snack when out in the food forest. The fruit are often hidden away under leaves so birds don’t find them. The seed is also edible but has a fibrous husk somewhat like a sunflower seed. The fruit are produced in abundance in winter.

Silverberry is tolerant of heavy soils and doesn't require much in the way of fertility, it is also nitrogen fixing. Frost hardy. A separate species from the weed (Elaeagnus × reflexa) that grows around the warmer regions or the country; Silverberry is non-invasive.


Size: 1L