Nature · Shrubs

Sea buckthorn

Native on the English east coast, introduced elsewhere · berries autumn–winter · sand dunes and sea cliffs

Hippophae rhamnoides — Elaeagnaceae

A spiny, thicket-forming shrub of coastal dunes with narrow silvery-grey leaves and heavy clusters of bright orange berries. Native only to England's east coast, it has been planted for dune stabilisation elsewhere and can become invasive, shading out dune wildflowers. Despite the name it is not a true buckthorn.

How to spot them

▸Narrow, willow-like, silvery-grey leaves, silvery beneath, on spiny thicket-forming stems
▸Dense clusters of bright orange berries packed along the branches, persisting into winter
▸Thorn-tipped shoots; dioecious, with tiny green flowers appearing before the leaves
▸Growing on sand dunes and coastal cliffs, occasionally in towns and gardens
▸Look-alike: buckthorns (Rhamnus, Frangula) have broad oval leaves and black berries; sea buckthorn's narrow silver leaves and orange fruits are unmistakable

How to know it

Narrow silver-grey leaves and stems crowded with orange berries, forming spiny thickets on sand dunes

Sea buckthorn.

Though it carries the name of a family of black-berried shrubs, it belongs to the oleaster family, Elaeagnaceae

Sea buckthorn — Hippophae rhamnoides.

Wintering thrushes from the Continent gorge on its orange berries, which are edible and make jelly and syrup

Sea buckthorn.

Planted to stabilise dunes, it is now considered invasive in some systems, shading out small mobile-dune plants

Sea buckthorn (Wildlife Trusts).

Its generic name is said to derive from the Greek for 'shining horse', from a belief it made horses' coats gleam

Sea buckthorn — Hippophae (traditional etymology).

Root nodules with nitrogen-fixing bacteria let it colonise nutrient-poor dune sand

Sea buckthorn.

Quick-fire facts

•Hippophae rhamnoides, family Elaeagnaceae (oleasters) — not a member of the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae
•Native on the east coast dunes of England; introduced to other British dune systems where it is now considered invasive (Wildlife Trusts)
•Grows 1–8 m tall as spiny thickets
•Berries provide crucial food for wintering thrushes arriving from continental Europe
•EDIBLE: the orange berries are edible and are used for jellies and syrups; they are very sharp and rich in vitamin C
•Dense thickets outcompete and shade small plants typical of mobile dunes
•Fixes nitrogen through root-nodule symbiosis, so it thrives on nutrient-poor sand
•Dioecious: only female plants bear berries, and a male is needed for pollination

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Sources

The Wildlife Trusts — Sea-buckthorn