Autumn olive

Description:

An alien invasive shrub, often with thorny branches. Leaves have silver scales covering the underside and in much lesser amounts on the upper surface. The flowers range from off-white to pale yellow. In my neck of the woods, autumn olive often blooms twice a year, once in spring and once in summer. The immature fruit also has silver scales, then ripens into a shiny bright red edible drupe.

Notes:

Autumn olive is one of the few non-legume plants that maintains nitrogen-fixing bacteria (Rhizobium) in its roots. The fact that the shrub can grow in nitrogen-poor soil adds to its invasive ability.