Elaeagnus difficilis Servettaz

Shrubs, evergreen, spreading or scandent, 2-3 m tall. Lateral branches ± spine-tipped; young branches with overlapping brown, pale brown, or reddish brown and off-white scales. Petiole 8-15 mm, indumentum as for stem; leaf blade abaxially brownish green, adaxially olive-green when dried, lanceolate, 7-13.5 × 2.2-6 cm, papery to leathery, abaxially with scales overlapping, silvery or ferruginous, adaxially glabrous except for brown scales on midrib, lateral veins 5-9 per side of midrib, inconspicuous on both surfaces or raised and with darker scales abaxially, base rounded or cuneate, margin narrowly revolute, apex slightly acuminate. Flowers 1-5 in axils of new lateral shoots, sometimes on very contracted short shoots. Pedicel 1-12 mm, pale brown scaly. Flowers nodding. Calyx densely reddish brown scaly; tube tubular or tubular-campanulate to slightly funnelform, 4.5-5 × 2.7-4 mm, constricted above ovary, abruptly widening below lobes; lobes triangular-ovate, 2.5-3 × ca. 2.5 mm, inside stellate-pilose, apex acute or apiculate. Anthers oblong-ellipsoid, 1.2-1.7 mm. Style flexuous, glabrous. Drupe salmon- or orange-red, cylindric, 1.4-1.7 cm × 6-9 mm, 8-ribbed. Fl. Apr, fr. May-Jun.

Chongqing, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan.

● 600-1800 m.