Elaeagnus species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Coleophora elaeagnisella and the gothic moths.
Silted areas are characterised by multiple small lakes and shallows, with tugay vegetation of tamarisk, oleaster, poplar thickets and reed beds, supporting many thousands of wintering waterfowl, waders and birds of prey.
As with other species in the genus Elaeagnus, E. multiflora plants are actinorhizal, growing in symbiosis with the actinobacterium Frankia in the soil.
It was probably the oleaster (Elaeagnus angustifolia), which grows abundantly in almost all parts of the Land of Israel, especially about Hebron and Samaria.