Trees or shrubs, dioecious, armed, clonal from root crowns. Stems glabrescent, trichomes gray. Leaves deciduous, alternate; petiolate or sessile; blade linear or linear-lanceolate, base attenuate or oblique, apex acute or rounded, surfaces covered with silver-green scales, silver-gray abaxially, dark gray-green adaxially, hairs sparsely interspersed with brown scales. Inflorescences spikes (in staminate plants) or racemes (in pistillate plants), appearing before leaves. Pedicels present or absent. Flowers unisexual; hypanthium inconspicuous; calyx lobes 2; nectary disc inconspicuous; stamens 4, alternate and opposite calyx lobes; style inconspicuous; stigma sessile, capitate. Fruits drupelike, orange or yellow-orange, fleshy. Seeds smooth. x = 12.

Distribution

Introduced; Europe, Asia.

Discussion

Species ca. 4 (1 in the flora).

Unlike other genera of Elaeagnaceae, Hippophaë is wind-pollinated and the flowers are unscented. Flowers are conspicuous in spring because they develop before the leaves; in fall, the plants blaze with large clusters of bright orange fruits. The fruits are a rich source of vitamin C; the juice may protect against arsenic toxicity (R. Gupta and S. J. Flora 2005).

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

Hippophaë rhamnoides