Elaeagnus multiflora - Goumi

Elaeagnus multiflora, better known as the Japanese Goumi, is part of the tribe of Asian chalefs with generally deciduous foliage and edible fruit.  It is a small, robust, self-fertile tree with a broad habit, lush vegetation, and pleasantly fragrant spring flowering. Its small red fruits, with medicinal and tonic properties, ripen in summer. Easy to grow in all regions, it is an excellent informal, rustic, or fruit hedge bush.

The Japanese Goumi is a large deciduous shrub in the Elaeagnaceae family, native to East Asia, specifically China, Japan, and North Korea.

Its growth is rapid, forming a branching bush within 5 or 6 years, dense but flexible and spreading as wide as it is tall, reaching up to 3 m (9 ft 10 in) in all directions. Its deciduous foliage persists for a long time before falling, sometimes semi-evergreen (in mild climates) or marcescent, meaning that the dry leaves remain attached to the branches in winter. The reddish young branches are covered with tiny scales. They bear entire, ovate leaves, 3 to 10 cm (1.2 to 3.9 in) long and 2 to 5 cm (0.8 to 2 in) wide, with wavy edges. They are a matte green on the upper side, silver to orange-brown with small dense scales on the underside. The small star-shaped, white-cream to pale yellow and quite insignificant flowers, are solitary or paired at the axil of the leaves. They usually appear in the middle of spring, in April-May depending on the climate. They are pleasantly fragrant and nectar-rich, visited by bees. They give way to small oval fruits 1 cm (0.4 in) long, slightly translucent, covered with tiny silver or brown pustules. They gradually turn orange, reddish-orange, and then cherry red, and are ripe in July-August. They are edible, sweet and tangy, slightly astringent but particularly rich in vitamins and antioxidants. They can be enjoyed as compote or jelly. Birds are also fond of them. The plant is self-fertile, but the harvest will be larger with several plants. The root system of Elaeagnus, like that of plants in the Fabaceae family (alfalfa, sainfoin), is perfectly adapted to poor soils, which it helps to enrich.

A clump of Elaeagnus multiflora will always be welcome in a garden that makes room for nature. With its fragrant flowering and amusing small fruits, it will delight curious gardeners and enthusiasts. Its vigour, resistance, and great adaptability make it an excellent informal or windbreak hedge plant, capable of growing enthusiastically in any ordinary soil if it is sufficiently deep. It is valuable in a seaside garden or in a windy region. It can be used in a mixed hedge, in the company of other beautiful fruit shrubs such as ornamental apple trees, prunus, Arbutus unedo, Amelanchier canadensis, dogwoods, or even Hippophae rhamnoides and Poncirus trifoliata.