NOXIOUS WEED
CO, NM, UT

Foothills, montane. Streamsides, disturbed areas, fields. Late spring/early summer.
Near Yellowjacket Canyon, August 29, 2005.

Russian Olive, no relation to Olive trees, is a widely spread non-native species that often chokes out native plants -- especially along streams.  But it is a handsome 25-50 foot tall tree with silvery green foliage, a super abundance of redolent yellow flowers, and so much gray/green fruit that branches droop until birds gorge themselves and unburden the branches.  The photograph at left shows the silvery green leaves almost masked by the enormous quantity of fruit.

"Elaeo" is Greek for "olive" and "agnos" for "chaste".  "Angustifolia" is Latin for "narrow leaved".

Linnaeus described this plant from Eurasia in his 1753 Species Plantarum.

The tiny yellow flowers carry a very big sweet scent in June.

Leaves are downy hairy, young twigs are reddish brown, and older bark is longitudinally furrowed.   Older branches have stout spines.  Wood is dense.

Foothills, montane. Streamsides, disturbed areas, fields. Late spring/early summer.
Near Yellowjacket Canyon, August 5, 2004.

This fruit-ladened branch means good eating for many birds in the fall.