Is the large Russian olive an evergreen tree or a deciduous tree?

Russian olive is also known as Qilixiang, Xiangliu, etc. Its petioles are slender and silvery white; the fruit is oval and pink; the flesh is milky white and mealy. So is the large Russian olive an evergreen tree or a deciduous tree?

1. Is the large Russian olive an evergreen tree or a deciduous tree

The large Russian olive is a deciduous tree. It has strong vitality, with characteristics such as drought resistance, wind and sand resistance, salt-alkali tolerance, and barren tolerance. Natural Russian olive is only distributed in desert and semi-desert areas with rainfall below 150 mm.

2. Edible value

As feed, Russian olive has a long history in northwest China. Its leaves and fruit are high-quality feed for sheep, and can also be fed to pigs and other livestock, with good effects in promoting fattening and weight gain in pigs and in farrowing and milk let-down. From the perspective of the nutritional composition of Russian olive, both its leaves and fruit contain the nutrients needed by livestock.

3. Use value

The flowers can yield aromatic oil, used as a perfuming raw material in cosmetics and soap fragrances; they are also a nectar-source plant. It can be used to brew wine and vinegar, and to make soy sauce, jam, etc. Russian olive flowers are fragrant and are a very good nectar-source plant; they contain aromatic oil, from which essences and spices can be extracted. The sap can be extracted to make Russian olive gum, a substitute for gum arabic.

4. Medicinal value

The fruit, leaves, and roots of Russian olive can be used as medicine. The fruit juice can be used as a purgative; the fruit mashed together with plantain can treat hemorrhoids; the root decoction can wash malignant scabies and horse tumors and scabies; the leaves, after drying and grinding, are taken with water and are effective for treating pneumonia and shortness of breath. The bark has the effects of clearing heat and cooling blood, and astringing and relieving pain. It is used for chronic bronchitis, stomach pain, enteritis, and leukorrhea; externally for burns and scalds, and to stop bleeding. The fruit can strengthen the spleen and stop diarrhea. It is used for indigestion.

5. Ornamental and greening value

Russian olive can be used for afforestation by planting seedlings or by inserting trunk cuttings. Russian olive has strong root-suckering ability, can conserve soil and water, resist wind and sand, prevent drought, regulate climate, and improve soil. It is often used to create shelterbelts, sand-control forests, timber forests, and landscape forests, and has played a great role in ensuring stable agricultural yields and harvests in Xinjiang.

Russian olive wood is tough and fine-grained, and can be used for furniture and farm tools, and also as fuel; it is one of the main sources of fuel for rural areas in desert regions.