Plant · P-042

Autumn Olive

Elaeagnus umbellata

Autumn Olive is a nitrogen-fixing shrub that partners with soil bacteria to feed itself and boost the fruit trees planted nearby. It carries heavy crops of small tart, lycopene-rich berries good raw or cooked into jam, along with an edible seed. The surprise is how far it travels on its own: birds strip the berries and carry the seed well past where it was planted, so it needs siting inside grazed or mowed ground, where the seedlings that come up each year get eaten or cut before they take hold.