588 • Woody Plant Seed Manual H

Growth habit, occurrence, and use. Common seabuckthorn—Hippophae rhamnoides L.—is native to northwestern Europe through central Asia to the Altai Mountains, western and northern China, and the northern Himalayas. Of the 2 species in the genus, only common seabuckthorn is widely cultivated (Rehder 1940). A very hardy deciduous shrub or a small tree, common seabuck-thorn is used primarily for ornamental purposes. In Europe and Asia, it is used to form hedges and, because of its nitro-gen-fixing symbionts, serves to enrich and protect soils (Bogdon and Untaru 1967; Kao 1964; Stewart and Pearson 1967). A tendency to form thickets by root suckering limits its use in shelterbelts. In Asia, the plant has a variety of medicinal uses (Ma 1989). The berries, which are a rich source of vitamins (Stocker 1948; Valicek 1978; Zhmyrko and others 1978), have been used in making a cordial and jam in Siberia (Hansen 1931). The plant stems bear many sharp, stout thorns and provide protection, cover, and food for various birds and small rodents (Hansen 1931; Pearson and Rogers 1962). Flowering and fruiting. The species is dioecious; its very small, yellowish, pistillate flowers appear in March or April before the leaves (Pearson and Rogers 1962; Slabaugh 1974). Orange-yellow, drupelike acidic fruits about the size of a pea (figure 1) (Rehder 1940) ripen in September or October (Hoag 1965; Hottes 1952) and frequently persist on the shrubs until the following March. Each fruit contains a bony, ovoid seed (figures 1 and 2). Seedcrops are borne annually. Collection, extraction, and storage. Common seabuckthorn fruits are soft and cling tenaciously to the brit-tle twigs (Demenko and others 1983). Fruits may be picked from the bushes at any time between late fall and early spring. However, germination may vary with the time that seeds were extracted from the ripe fruits (Eliseev and Mishulina 1972). Seeds may be extracted by running the wet fruits through a macerator and floating off the pulp. Prompt cleaning and drying is advantageous because germi-nation rate is very low for seeds left too long in the fruits (Eliseev and Mishulina 1977; Rohmeder 1942). From 45 k