Elaeagnus glabra Thunb.

There is much confusion in gardens between this species and E. pungens, but E. glabra differs in the following respects. It is not thorny, its longer-pointed leaves are of thinner texture, not undulate, their lower surface brown and shining with a metallic lustre (E. pungens is whitish and dull beneath); and it is of more rambling, even climbing habit. For the rest, E. glabra is a vigorous evergreen shrub, with us 15 to 20 ft high, but twice as much on trees and houses in the south of France. The flowers appear in October and November, and are funnel-shaped, white, clothed with brownish scales, fragrant. Young shoots slender, covered with brown, glossy scales.

Native of Japan and China. There appears to be no variegated form of E. glabra in cultivation.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

As mentioned in the later impressions of Volume II this species is rare in cultivation but is in the Kew collection.