AO is a relative of Russian Olive. They are both members of the Eleaegnus family, which includes goumi and silverberry. I have never had a chance to try Russian Olive fruit (if you have available locally, c-mail me!), but had a tree that eventually died on me. They get a fungal infection here that kills them just about the time they are large enough to start setting fruit.
Eleaegnus are a completely different family of plants than regular olives. Regular olive are a Mediterranean plant while most the Eleaegnus are temperate climate. Russian Olive and Autumn Olive are hardy to at least zone 4. Autumn Olive fruit are red, with silver speckles and quite distinctive. They are typically about 1/4" in diameter and ripen here in October. Not discussed too much is that it is a beautiful small tree or large bush. Silvery foliage and tons of small red berries in the fall.
Check out this brief reference.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E...
