Species
+

Elaeagnus umbellata Thunb.

Autumn Elaeagnus, Autumn Oleaster, Autumn Olive, Autumn berry

Climate known 60 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Elaeagnus umbellata is a species of flowering plant known as Japanese silverberry, umbellata oleaster, autumn olive, autumn elaeagnus, spreading oleaster, autumnberry, or autumn berry. The species is indigenous to eastern Asia and ranges from the Himalayas eastwards to Japan. It is a hardy, aggressive invasive species able to readily colonize barren land, becoming invasive in the central and northeastern United States and parts of Europe.

Text from Wikipedia, “Elaeagnus umbellata”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Elaeagnus

Elaeagnus is a genus of about 90 species of flowering plants in the family Elaeagnaceae. Species of the genus are commonly known as silverberry or oleaster.

Text from Wikipedia, “Elaeagnus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Elaeagnaceae
Described by
Thunb.
Native to
Afghanistan, China South-Central, Manchuria +8
Wild records
242 in range· 132 open

At a glance

Warmest month
27°C
Aug, mean day; nights 21 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1399mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jul 260 mm (CHELSA)
Light
16–36DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (May to September at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 1399 mm a year, wettest July at 260 mm, driest December at 28 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 36 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -3.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Elaeagnus convexolepidota Hayata; Elaeagnus coreana H.Lév.; Elaeagnus crispa Thunb.; Elaeagnus crispa var. coreana (H.Lév.) Nakai; Elaeagnus crispa var. higuchiana Honda and 45 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to September in the northern hemisphere (May to September at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (986 mm of 1399 mm) falls in May to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 21.4 °C against a yearly mean of 13.7 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1399 mm a year, wettest July at 260 mm, driest December at 28 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1399 mm a year at the habitat, 986 mm of it May to September. Wettest month July at 260 mm, driest December at 28 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 806 mm to 2539 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 36 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 16 to 36 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 13, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -3.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -3.5 °C, the absolute minimum -9.2 °C, about 86 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 29.3 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -1.5 °C in January (across the envelope cells -9.8 °C to 4.9 °C), warmest day 27.0 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -3.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 57 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 6 °C in Jan to 27 °C in Aug; mean night from -2 °C in Jan to 21 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1399 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 225 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -9.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 29.3 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost29.3° 99th-percentile day (undated)-9.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 16–36RH 57–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 225 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C6 / -0–107 / 2–1110 / 6–1516 / 11–2020 / 16–2423 / 19–2826 / 21–2927 / 21–2924 / 19–2618 / 14–2113 / 8–178 / 2–12
Night °C-2 / -10–5-0 / -7–53 / -3–88 / 3–1213 / 8–1617 / 12–2021 / 14–2421 / 14–2517 / 12–2211 / 6–176 / -1–121 / -6–7
Rain mm35 / 7–12647 / 12–13473 / 25–173100 / 40–194127 / 76–238186 / 95–330260 / 153–381227 / 137–354186 / 101–31278 / 45–20152 / 20–15828 / 7–118
DLI17 / 14–2022 / 19–2528 / 24–3134 / 29–3736 / 31–3934 / 29–3732 / 28–3531 / 28–3526 / 22–2923 / 18–2517 / 15–2016 / 13–19
RH %57 / 53–6457 / 53–6457 / 54–6359 / 53–6261 / 56–6564 / 59–6967 / 63–7266 / 63–6963 / 60–6759 / 57–6558 / 55–6457 / 54–63

Each figure is the median across the 225 grid cells holding the 240 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1251:5630 (27.425, 101.525). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -9.2 °C, 1st-percentile night -3.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 29.3 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 225 distinct grid cells holding the 240 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1251:5630 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 27.50_101.250, lapse-corrected -250 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2560 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeAfghanistan, China South-Central, Manchuria, China North-Central, China Southeast, Tibet, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya· introduced: Great Britain, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, France, Azores, Tadzhikistan, Assam, East Himalaya, Cambodia, Hawaii, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., Vermont, West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, District of Columbia, Costa Rica
Kew's description“shrub” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker36.845, 127.215 · in the densest population, 46 records (19% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 242 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 132 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1092 km away. 1684 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 2 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 242 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Elaeagnus umbellataElaeagnus umbellataElaeagnus umbellataElaeagnus umbellataElaeagnus umbellataElaeagnus umbellataElaeagnus umbellataElaeagnus umbellata

Photographs: (c) Carrie Seltzer, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Bill Keim, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) FATCAT, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Tyler Ekholm, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Elaeagnus umbellata, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Infestation of Wild and Ornamental Noncrop Fruits by Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae)
J. C. Lee, Amy J. Dreves, Adam Cave, S. Kawai (2015) · Annals of the Entomological Society of America
Characterization of an ineffective actinorhizal microsymbiont, Frankia sp. EuI1 (Actinomycetales)
Dwight Baker, William W. Newcomb, John G. Torrey (1980) · Canadian Journal of Microbiology
Non‐native grass alters growth of native tree species via leaf and soil microbes
Jennifer A. Rudgers, Samuel P. Orr (2009) · Journal of Ecology
Phytochemical analysis and antidiabetic potential of Elaeagnus umbellata (Thunb.) in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats: pharmacological and computational approach
Nausheen Nazir, Muhammad Zahoor, Mohammad Nisar, Imran Khan (2018) · BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Fruit of Autumn Olive: A Rich Source of Lycopene
Ingrid Fordham, Beverly A. Clevidence, Eugene R. Wiley, Richard H. Zimmerman (2001) · HortScience
Variation in Aluminum Tolerance among Six Genera of Trees
Larry H. McCormick, Kim C. Steiner (1978) · Forest Science
INVASIVE FRUITS, NOVEL FOODS, AND CHOICE: AN INVESTIGATION OF EUROPEAN STARLING AND AMERICAN ROBIN FRUGIVORY
Nancy LaFleur, Margaret A. Rubega, Chris S. Elphick (2007) · The Wilson Journal of Ornithology
Relationships of Frankia Isolates Based on Deoxyribonucleic Acid Homology Studies
C. An, W. Stuart Riggsby, Beth C. Mullin (1985) · International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology
Chemical composition, in vitro antioxidant, anticholinesterase, and antidiabetic potential of essential oil of Elaeagnus umbellata Thunb
Nausheen Nazir, Muhammad Zahoor, Faheem Uddin, Mohammad Nisar (2021) · BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies
Evaluation of neuroprotective and anti-amnesic effects of Elaeagnus umbellata Thunb. On scopolamine-induced memory impairment in mice
Nausheen Nazir, Muhammad Zahoor, Mohammad Nisar, Nasiara Karim (2020) · BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Elaeagnus 4 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 111 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.