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Key to Elaeagnus

Elaeagnaceae

Elaeagnus

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(c) Harris, Chase - CC0
1 Flowering in the fall (Oct-Nov) and fruiting in the spring (Mar-Apr); leaves evergreen; branches usually thorny
1 Flowering in the spring and fruiting in late summer or fall; leaves deciduous (somewhat coriaceous in texture and semi-persistent); branches thorny or not.
(c) Davis, Scott Allen - CC-BY
  2 Leaves 3-8× as long as wide; leaves with only silver scales beneath; twigs with silver scales only; fruit orangish-yellow at maturity, lepidote with silver scales
(c) Fleming, Gary P.
(c) Hartley, Nate - CC-BY-NC, permission granted to NCBG
  2 Leaves 1.5-3× as long as wide; leaves with a mixture of silver and bronze scales beneath (the bronze scales may be few); twigs with a mixture of silver and bronze scales (the bronze scales turning dingy or blackish with age); fruit reddish-brown, pinkish, or silver at maturity, lepidote with silver and brown scales.
    3 Leaves remaining silvery on the upper surface; fruit silver at maturity
    3 Leaves becoming glabrescent and green above at maturity; fruit red at maturity
      4 Fruit 10-15 mm long, bright red; fruiting pedicel 15-25 mm long; hypanthium tube about as long as the separate calyx lobes
      4 Fruit 6-8 mm long, silvery red; fruiting pedicel 8-12 mm long; hypanthium tube about 2× as long as the separate calyx lobes