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Nov27-B - 20086386_bittersweet.jpg
The best of a nasty one. To quote another web site;
----- "There are two dioecious vines with yellow and orange berries commonly called "bittersweet." They look very much alike. One, an innocuous vine indigenous to North America with smooth stems, is Celastrus scandens, also called "American bittersweet" plant or "false bittersweet." The other, an exotic vine that is among North America's most invasive plants and whose stem bears blunt thorns, is Celastrus orbiculatus, or "oriental bittersweet" vine. Another way to distinguish between American bittersweet and oriental bittersweet is by discerning the location of their berries: the berries of American bittersweet plants appear at the tips of the vines only, while those of oriental bittersweet vines grow along the vine. But the biggest distinction between the two is in terms of their environmental impact. For while oriental bittersweet vines are considered an environmental menace by many, American bittersweet plant is becoming so rare in some areas that it is now a protected species. It is the oriental bittersweet vines that threaten to kill your trees; while American bittersweet plants are themselves threatened." ----- By this description, the berry location along the vine makes this the oriental variety. It is a real P-i-t-A, and I spend a lot of time each spring trying to keep it under control along our wooded boundary. It can be pretty at this time of year, however. JD |
#2
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Nov27-B - 20086386_bittersweet.jpg
It may be a PITA, but it sure is pretty. Would make a Christmas decoration.
John - Pa. wrote in message ... The best of a nasty one. To quote another web site; ----- "There are two dioecious vines with yellow and orange berries commonly called "bittersweet." They look very much alike. One, an innocuous vine indigenous to North America with smooth stems, is Celastrus scandens, also called "American bittersweet" plant or "false bittersweet." The other, an exotic vine that is among North America's most invasive plants and whose stem bears blunt thorns, is Celastrus orbiculatus, or "oriental bittersweet" vine. Another way to distinguish between American bittersweet and oriental bittersweet is by discerning the location of their berries: the berries of American bittersweet plants appear at the tips of the vines only, while those of oriental bittersweet vines grow along the vine. But the biggest distinction between the two is in terms of their environmental impact. For while oriental bittersweet vines are considered an environmental menace by many, American bittersweet plant is becoming so rare in some areas that it is now a protected species. It is the oriental bittersweet vines that threaten to kill your trees; while American bittersweet plants are themselves threatened." ----- By this description, the berry location along the vine makes this the oriental variety. It is a real P-i-t-A, and I spend a lot of time each spring trying to keep it under control along our wooded boundary. It can be pretty at this time of year, however. JD |
#3
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Nov27-B - 20086386_bittersweet.jpg
John - Pa. wrote:
The best of a nasty one. To quote another web site; ----- "There are two dioecious vines with yellow and orange berries commonly called "bittersweet." They look very much alike. One, an innocuous vine indigenous to North America with smooth stems, is Celastrus scandens, also called "American bittersweet" plant or "false bittersweet." The other, an exotic vine that is among North America's most invasive plants and whose stem bears blunt thorns, is Celastrus orbiculatus, or "oriental bittersweet" vine. Another way to distinguish between American bittersweet and oriental bittersweet is by discerning the location of their berries: the berries of American bittersweet plants appear at the tips of the vines only, while those of oriental bittersweet vines grow along the vine. But the biggest distinction between the two is in terms of their environmental impact. For while oriental bittersweet vines are considered an environmental menace by many, American bittersweet plant is becoming so rare in some areas that it is now a protected species. It is the oriental bittersweet vines that threaten to kill your trees; while American bittersweet plants are themselves threatened." ----- By this description, the berry location along the vine makes this the oriental variety. It is a real P-i-t-A, and I spend a lot of time each spring trying to keep it under control along our wooded boundary. It can be pretty at this time of year, however. JD Great Composition, Beautiful colors. Sharp Capture. Kudos, John Bob Williams |
#4
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Nov27-B - 20086386_bittersweet.jpg
John - Pa. wrote in message ... The best of a nasty one. To quote another web site; ----- .... ----- By this description, the berry location along the vine makes this the oriental variety. It is a real P-i-t-A, and I spend a lot of time each spring trying to keep it under control along our wooded boundary. It can be pretty at this time of year, however. It's VERY pretty and a lovely picture, thanks. I'd never heard of bittersweet but have saved your shot. Mary |
#5
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Nov27-B - 20086386_bittersweet.jpg
"Mary Fisher" wrote in message t... John - Pa. wrote in message ... The best of a nasty one. To quote another web site; ----- ... ----- By this description, the berry location along the vine makes this the oriental variety. It is a real P-i-t-A, and I spend a lot of time each spring trying to keep it under control along our wooded boundary. It can be pretty at this time of year, however. It's VERY pretty and a lovely picture, thanks. I'd never heard of bittersweet but have saved your shot. Mary The berries reminded me of a shrub we bought for our hedge, we call it spindleberry. I couldn't containe my curiosity so looked it up, this too is a celastrus: Euonymus cornutus var. quinquecornutus Celastraceae (!) But I don't think it's a pita, we love it for its autumn coloured leaves and the berries - although I tried tasting one the other day and it's not at all juicy, just very hard. I don't know if birds eat them. The wood is very hard and good to carve but it takes a long time for even the trunk to grow big enough to give a suitable chunk for carving. Some say that the berries are poisonous or mildly poinonous to us, I'm still here :-) Also, that it is a winter host of the black bean aphid, Aphis fabae, and therefore provides a very important winter and spring food resource for some ladybirds. It seems that it's becoming rarer in the wild in UK too. A naturalist said: " ... an old festival, Spindlemass, when the country folk compete in collecting the largest possible quantity of pretty pink spindleberries and displaying them in traditional patterns in their cottage windows. The origin of the Spindleberry festival, or Spindlemass, is like most things in our part of the countryside, lost in the mists of antiquity. "Some old herbal books recommend spindleberries for their purgative qualities and others for their binding effect and some for both at the same time. Many country folk are addicted to them. But old Dr Higgs, who retired from practice in Bournemouth and previously in west Africa, to live at "the Hollies", an ivy-grown villa subject to subsidence at the outskirts of our village, maintains that this is contrary to reason, and that he could think of many other substances which are equally without any effect on the digestive system. "This is regarded with scorn and derision yet I often think that the traditional beliefs of the country folk, illogical as they may seem, are worth more than any rational argument. "I also found this A decoction of the bark of this plant has strong purgative and laxative qualities. So strong in fact that it has been declared totally unsafe and even deadly by the United States Food and Drug Administration. The active ingredient is the glycoside euonymin, which affects the heart. The Winnebago used an inner bark decoction of E. atropurpurea to treat uterine trouble. The wood is hard and yellow and was used in Europe to make spindles. An oil can be extracted from all parts of the plant and has been used to make soap." We - that is Spouse - has used twigs from the bush as spindles. They're very suitable and I suspect that's the source of the name. I'm wondering about trying to make soap now. I grew soapwort to try that but it's not very good despite the myth and it's become a weed. A very pretty weed - but so is dandelion :-) Thanks for bringing this up, I'd never looked into spindleberry before, it was just a pretty shrub in our hedge. Mary |
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