Hippophae rhamnoides is a hardy, deciduous shrub that can grow between 2 and 4 m high (between 7 and 13 ft). It has a rough, brown or black bark and a thick, grayish-green crown. The attractive leaves are alternate, narrow and lanceolate, with silvery-green upper faces.
The plants have a developed and extensive root system, and the roots live in symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing Frankia bacteria. The roots also transform insoluble organic and mineral matters from the soil into more soluble states. Vegetative reproduction of the plants occurs rapidly via root suckers.
The Sea buckthorn plant is particularly drought- and salt-tolerant and can thus be successfully used for land reclamation, against further soil erosion, as shelterbelt or in agroforestry. These characteristics are mainly due to the deep root system that the plant develops. For example, in eastern China, new agroforestry systems have been developed to reclaim land with high salinity contents and Hippophae rhamnoides is included in the system as shelterbelt, providing a habitat to different birds and small mammals.
A word of caution – speaking as a botanist, and understanding ones concerns regarding coastal erosion. It is tempting to want to plant this tree on sand-dune systems to stabilize sand movement. However, this tree can take-over at the detriment of rare sand-dune plant species such as orchids. One should consider ones action before committing to this, as it is irreversible.
If this species is autochthonous anywhere in the whole South-west then it is only in the Dorset (vc9) area. In all other south-west vice-counties it is an archaeophyte.
