Single Record
Participant Info
- Species
- Elaeagnus angustifolia
- Family
- Caprifoliaceae
- CommonName
- Russian olive
- Presence
- Yes
- Status
- exotic, noxious
- EarliestDate
- 1992
- LatestDate
- 2020
- Ecosystem
- basin, foothill, ruderal, urban
- Geobotanical
- SSanjuans, UBasin, LBasin
- Counties
- Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Rio Grande, Saguache
- Passes
- WildlifePreserves
- Baca, Blanca Wetlands, Russell Lakes
- Other Localities
- Alamosa (town), Del Norte
- Comments
- In the Watershed the exotic Russian olive was frequently cultivated as a yard tree, fence row, and wind break, and it often escaped. Mature trees can be found in every town in the Valley, and by many farm houses. (Ackerfield shows Costilla Co, with no vouchers in SEINet.) As of Dec 2002, the state of Colorado officially banned the sale of Elaeagnus angustifolia, arguing that it is a plant, for some people an allergen, that escapes and crowds out native plants. The Colorado Department of Agriculture had estimated that there were 8,000 acres of escaped trees in the state, but nothing like that degree of invasion occurs in the Watershed. It is recorded from every USA state. It follows the Rio Grande drainage in New Mexico to the tip of west Texas but no farther. It is on Colorado's B list of "noxious weeds."
- Annotation