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Goumi
Tillamook (aka Carmine)
Tillamook Goumi is one of the largest Goumi fruits and is widely regarded as one of the best tasting, having a taste similar to fruit punch. This variety is also called Carmine.
Catherine's Find
This variety was found at a nursery and may possibly be an Eleganus multiflora hybrid. It reportedly has a better flavor than most Goumi fruits. It's origin story is copied below:
Thought I would weigh in on the "Catherine's Find" Goumi. I originally found the plant growing in an out of the way spot at the Dwight Way Nursery in Berkeley. I do not remember what year, but the nursery has been out of business for a number of years now. There were two plants, fruiting and labeled Elaeagnus 'ebbingii'. I asked permission and then sampled the fruits, decided they were good and bought one plant. Wish I had bought the other as well.
I was never satisfied that the plant was 'ebbingii'. I went so far as to buy another plant by mail order that was labeled 'ebbingii'. Definitely not the same plant. One member who was familiar with goumi in Japan suggested that there is a lot of variation in Elaeagnus multiflora. So I have assumed since then
that the plant is multiflora.
One of the reasons I have never registered the fruit with CRFG. is that I have not been sure of the identity. Hortus Third (1976)is my only reference book that describes all of the E.species. E. latifolia is described as "Oleaster, Wild Olive. Variable, either erect or climbing, sometimes treelike; lvs ovate to elliptic or broader,
obtuse or acute, to 5 in. long, silvery or rusty beneath; fls. many, clustered fr. red, to 1 1/2 in. long."
E. multiflora is described as "Cherry E., Gumi. To 6 ft., deciduous; lvs. silvery and with brown scales beneath; fls. fragrant, 1-2 in lf. axils; fr. scarlet, on slender stalks to 1 in. long, edible. Lvs. variable in
shape; some forms have been named as cvs.:'Crispa', 'Ovata', 'Rotundifolia'."
The mother plant of the cuttings that some of you have has characteristics of both of these descriptions. Perhaps it is a hybrid. The genus seems to hybridize easily. E. ebbingei is a hybrid of E. macrophylla and E.
pungens. Perhaps the seedlings folks have grown from my plant are also hybrids. I do have a known E. multiflora on my property...
Catherine A.
