oleaster, river ginger tree
萸 refers to a specific plant: the oleaster or river ginger tree. The meaning is narrow and botanical, without a broader conceptual center.
萸 combines the plant radical 艹 with 臾, which likely contributes the sound ユ. The exact historical development of 臾 is uncertain.
The grass top 艹 marks this as a plant. The bottom 臾 looks like a bundle of roots or branches, helping you remember it's a specific tree or shrub: the oleaster.
For ユ, imagine you picking oleaster fruit from the tree: you -> ユ, and you harvest the plant.
—
Elaeagnus multiflora var. hortensis (variety of goumi)
Tetradium ruticarpum (species of deciduous trees)
Elaeagnus multiflora var. hortensis (variety of goumi)
goumi (species of oleaster, Elaeagnus multiflora); cherry silverberry
Asiatic dogwood (Cornus officinalis); Japanese cornel; Japanese cornelian-cherry
autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata); Japanese silverberry; oleaster
silverthorn (species of oleaster, Elaeagnus pungens); thorny elaeagnus; thorny olive