Oriental Bittersweet, Roundleaved Bittersweet, Chinese Bittersweet

Celastrus orbiculatus Thunb.

Spindletree Family (Celastraceae)

▲ vine covering a yucca plant

▲▼ fruit  plants

▲ young vine

▲ vine showing leaf and stem details

Chinese Bittersweet, Oriental Bittersweet, Roundleaved Bittersweet:  (Not in Weeds of the Midwestern United States and Central Canada; not in Weeds of the Great Plains; pp. 336-337, Weeds of the Northeast)

·         Woody perennial vines in the Spindletree Family (Celastraceae) that climbs by twining

·         Stems are bright green, becoming gray as they mature

·         Leaves are opposite, oval-shaped to nearly rounded, hairless, bright green

·         Plants are dioecious (separate male and female plants), with flowers or fruit (fruit only on female vines) in clusters in the axils of the leaves

·         Fruit is a yellow orange capsule that opens in 3 sections to show 3 red fleshy fruits, each with 1-2 seeds

·         Found in open and more dense wooded areas, streambanks, fencerows, landscapes, disturbed sites

·         Can form dense mats of vegetation over native species, killing them out

·         Was introduced for its fruit, which are used in floral arrangements, but has escaped cultivation and become invasive

·         Important to distinguish from the increasingly less common native American Bittersweet before controlling, by looking for the following distinguishing characteristics:

o   Leaves:  American Bittersweet leaves more oval, at least twice as long as wide; Chinese or Oriental Bittersweet has more rounded leaves less than twice as long as wide

o   Fruit:  American bittersweet has flowers/fruit in terminal panicles at tips of stems, and the fruit capsule is more orange; Chinese Bittersweet has flowers/fruit in axils of leaves and the fruit capsule is more yellow-orange

 

Location near campus:  in hedgerow along alley that runs behind (north) of houses along Loren St. south of campus.