The Sea Buckthorn branches are dense, stiff and very thorny with leaves that are a very distinct pale silvery green. The trees are dioecious having separate male and female plants. The male plant produces tiny brownish flowers that distribute pollen in the wind. The female plants produce minute yellow flowers along the stems that turn into copious amounts of orange berries.

These berries are soft, juicy and extremely nutritious containing on average 120 mg of Vitamin C per 100 grams of fruit or roughly three times the amount found in a orange. The Sea Buckthorn fruit is also rich in Vitamins A, E and essential oils. The oils have been shown to have remarkable curative powers and are regularly included in medications to alleviate such disparate disorders such as canker sores, peptic ulcers, colitis. Experiments are under way to determine if the oils have anti-aging properties.

The Sea Buckthorn has the ability to produce its own fertilizer with the help of some symbiotic bacteria. The bacteria is able to take atmospheric nitrogen and convert it into nitrate which is used by the plant to grow and is the primary reason that it can thrive in poor, alkaline, and salty soil.