Plant of the Week: Common Sea Buckthorn

Written By: Brooke Cherek

This is the beginning of The Pointer plant of the week, a series of short and informational writings about plants from around the world.

This week’s plant of the week is common sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides). It grows as a shrub between 6 and 20 feet tall and produces bright yellow-orange fruits around September. Its narrow, silver leaves grow alternately on thorn covered branches.  

Sea buckthorn is a terrestrial plant that can be found along cliffs, dunes and salty shorelines. It thrives in nutrient poor soils because of its special relationship with Frankia, a type of bacteria that can fix atmospheric nitrogen for the plant to use.  

This thorny shrub has a long history of medicinal use which first began in ancient Greece. Its scientific name, Hippophae rhamnoides, means shiny horse in Latin. Records from ancient Greece show that racing horses were given sea buckthorn to promote muscle growth and to give them a shiny coat.  

Common sea buckthorn was also used by sailors to prevent scurvy. Their edible, bright orange berries are high in vitamin C and were eaten raw.   

This plant is found naturally in Northwestern Europe, Central Asia, Mongolia and the Himalayas. In Russia, sea buckthorn became a widely cultivated plant, and started to be used in jam, ice cream and even wine.  

In 1938, sea buckthorn was introduced to Canada primarily as an ornamental shrub.  This plant was eventually implemented for erosion control along roadways, and in shelterbelts around fields. It is now considered an invasive species in Canada, as it threatens prairie and flood plain ecosystems, and displaces native inhabitants.  

Despite its name, common sea buckthorn is not related to common buckthorn or glossy buckthorn, two common invasive plants in the United States. 

Brooke Cherek 

Contributing Writer 

[email protected]