Bittersweet
The ‘’true’’ bittersweet is a member of the nightshade family, which incidentally contains peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, and tobacco. Its Latin name is Solanum dulcamara. Solanum means nightshade and dulcamara means sweet and bitter. This binomial lays the claim for use of the term bittersweet.
This plant is also known as the deadly nightshade and scarlet berry. It was brought early from Europe, probably as an ornamental for its attractive flower and fruit. It has become naturalized over a good part of eastern U. S. and probably in every county in Ohio. It can be found in many backyards in Tiffin, ours included.
It is a climbing plant but woody only at its base. Its flowers have purple reflexed petals. Its berries begin as green, changing first to yellow, then to orange and finally to red. All stages of color can be found at any time during the season. Its fruit is deadly yet they look enticing to young children. The leaves and stems when crushed have an offensive, musty odor.
The twigs were collected, dried and used by herbalist in early times as a diuretic.
The American or ‘’false’’ bittersweet is in a different family. Its Latin name is Celastrus scandens. It is a wide-ranging native plant found from Quebec, Ontario to Manitoba and Wyoming southward to the Gulf but not in Florida. It is found in every county in Ohio.
This plant, also known as waxwort, puts on a display in the fall. Its yellow to orange fruit splits at maturity into three petal-like valves and discloses its jewel-like crimson seed case. The outer part of the seed case is fleshy. The large clusters of fruit only form at the tip of the stems.
Waxwort likes full sun. It requires no extra water but mulch added in late spring helps keep its roots cool. Heavy pruning of older plants in early spring will increase production of new vines. However, berries are produced on one year and older wood with the heaviest crop on 2-3 year old stems.
Bluebirds look for the seeds of the American Bittersweet as well as those of sumac. This plant is now a threatened species because of its value in decorations and from competition from a more aggressive invader, the Asiatic Bittersweet. The American Bittersweet is not destructive nor invasive.
The Asiatic or Oriental Bittersweet is Celastrus orbicularis. It is native to China, Korea and Japan. It was brought to North America in the 1860s. By 1974, it was found in 21 states from Maine to Georgia and west to Minnesota.
It likes open woods, thickets and roadsides. Its vines can grow up to 5 inches in diameter and it is known to be 60 feet tall. It is very aggressive and can compete for space, water and nutrients. It can, by encircling the trunks of trees as it climbs upward, girdle and kill large trees. It can produce such heavy tops that the host plant may uproot. Root suckers are common. It is spread by birds, being a favorite food of bluebirds. Humans that use the fruit in dried arrangements also spread it. It can choke out native plants including the American Bittersweet and become a monoculture.
The fruit is similar to that of the American Bittersweet, but its fruits are all along the stem in clusters of 3 - 7 whereas the American Bittersweet bears fruit only at the tip of the branches
The beauty of the vine is so appealing that many gardeners are enticed to grow it in their landscaping scheme. It can be used as the backbone of wreaths or incorporated into arrangements as a vine laden with berries. It should be restricted to a shrub status or used on a trellis or on a fence. The landowner should be vigilant and see that no unwanted vines start to grow to other places, carried by birds.
In some woods in lower Michigan, it is called ‘’devil weed’’. Large trees have been killed, the shrub layer almost destroyed and the ground literally covered by its vines. It can be controlled by pulling the young vines, which are shallow rooted, or by cutting the stem at ground level and then painting the stem with the herbicide triclopyr. Ortho Brush-B-Gon is a good example. Foliar application can be used if no other trees are near.
Celastrus orbicularis is just another one of the invasive Asiatic plants that we have to contend with. Why does it have to be so appealing?
– Percy