Requires a well-drained loamy soil and a sunny position. Established plants are drought resistant and are also lime tolerant. Plants are hardy to at least -15°c. This species does not flower or fruit well in Britain. Dioecious. Male and female plants must be grown if seed is required.

Fruit - raw. A sweet but rather insipid flavor. The fruit is about 6mm in diameter.

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in the autumn in a greenhouse. It can also be sown in spring in a greenhouse in a sandy compost. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots as soon as they are large enough to handle and grow them on for at least their first winter in a greenhouse. Plant out in the spring or early summer after the last expected frosts and give some protection in their first winter. Division in spring or autumn. Layering.

Semi-desert and desert regions and on gritty slopes on the Russian steppes. Grasslands, sandy places and rocky mountain slopes below 900 metres in China.