Silverberry

Elaeagnus commutata

Also known as Silverberry, Wolf Willow, American Silverberry, Silver-leaf Oleaster

At a glance

Family

Elaeagnaceae (Oleaster family)

Type

Deciduous shrub

Parts used

Berries, bark, flowers

Size

6 to 12 feet tall, often forming dense thickets

Bloom

Late spring to early summer, small trumpet-shaped yellow flowers

Habitat

Prairies, riverbanks, dunes, and open woods across the northern plains, the Canadian west, and Alaska

Acquisition

Forage or Grow

Traditional remedies in HerbSense

Key benefits

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Enriches poor soil naturally

Feeds birds and pollinators

Fragrant ornamental hedging

Traditional wild food source

Traditional uses

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Long before it had a Latin name, silverberry was a familiar presence to the Cree, Blackfoot, Assiniboine, and other Plains and Northern nations, who gathered its silvery berries in early autumn to eat fresh, dry for winter stores, or pound into pemmican alongside meat and fat. Its scent mattered as much as its fruit. The small yellow flowers perfume entire river bottoms in June, and that fragrance was prized enough that blossoms were sometimes gathered simply to scent lodges and clothing. The hard, silvery seed within each berry was polished and strung into beads and rattles, a craft still practiced today, and the fibrous inner bark was twisted into cordage strong enough for rope and snares. Some nations also turned to a bark infusion as a folk remedy for coughs and chest colds during the cold months.

How to grow & use it

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The full apothecary for Silverberry

Traditional remedies and step-by-step preparations, a complete growing guide, and how to harvest, dry, and store it, all unlocked with HerbLens Unlimited.

✦Remedies & preparations
✦ Growing guide
✦Harvest & storage

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Pairs well with

✦Rose hips
✦Chokecherry
✦Saskatoon berry

Substitutes

✦Goumi berry (Elaeagnus multiflora)
✦Autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata)

Choose it when

“When the prairie wind carries a wave of honeyed fragrance in June, and a shrub of silver leaves stands shimmering against the open sky.”

Did you know?

Silverberry seeds are so hard and lustrous once polished that they were traditionally strung into necklaces, earrings, and ceremonial rattles, giving the shrub a second life as jewelry long after its fruit was eaten.

Safety

The berries are edible, though raw fruit is mealy, dry, and mildly astringent, and eating a lot of underripe fruit can cause mild stomach upset, especially in children.