I noticed a number of postings about beautiful American Bittersweet vine. I too was looking for a way to grow the native vine in my garden- mainly to feed the birds in the early spring. Sadly, I purchased three supposedly MN native vines from a catalog and now find that they are the invasive oriental Bittersweet and not American Bittersweet. Anyone else running into this with catalogs?

Sometimes native bittersweet is not that easy to spot. I have lived here 4 years now and started a woodland garden in a patch of open woodland that is across the front yard from my front window. One day I was pulling some of the many maple seedlings that come up in there and noticed some berries on the ground. Sure enough I looked up and 40 feet up a tall hemlock there was bittersweet growing in the tree tops. All that you see going up the side of the tree is a single trunk hugging vine that is about 3" across. I wanted to identify mine so I looked at it with binoculars as the fruit and leaves were so high. Here are some sites I used to help me and some exerpts from them on telling them apart. http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/ceor1.htm http://www.djroger.com/bittersweet.htm http://ecfla.org/articles/badbittersweet.htm http://www.bedfordaudubon.org/seasons/autumn/bittersweet01.html NOTE: Because Oriental bittersweet can be confused with our native American bittersweet (Celastrus scandens) which is becoming less and less common, it is imperative that correct identification be made before any control is begun. American bittersweet produces flowers (and fruits) in single terminal panicles at the tips of the stems; flower panicles and fruit clusters are about as long as the leaves; the leaves are nearly twice as long as wide and are tapered at each end. Oriental bittersweet produces flowers in small axillary clusters that are shorter than the subtending leaves and the leaves are very rounded. Comparing the two, American bittersweet has fewer, larger clusters of fruits whereas Oriental bittersweet is a prolific fruiter with lots and lots of fruit clusters emerging at many points along the stem. Unfortunately, hybrids of the two occur which may make identification more difficult. The most reliable way to distinguish our native species from the introduced one is by the location of the flowers and fruits on female plants. In American bittersweet, the clusters of flowers and resulting fruits occur at the tips of the branches. Oriental bittersweet produces its smaller clusters of flowers and fruits along the stems where the leaves are attached. This arrangement results in a greater number of fruits being produced. Also, the capsules of C. scandens are usually more orange than those of C. orbiculata. Other than the difference in the location of flowers and fruits, the plants are much the same in appearance with brownish stems dotted with small, light spots (the lenticels) and shiny, green, slightly toothed leaves that become yellow in late fall. The leaves are variable in size and shape, but those of American bittersweet are generally longer than broad while those of Oriental bittersweet are more rounded in outline giving rise to the species name, orbiculata. Hope this helps. Catrina

Hopefully the vines were sold sexed. If not, you will need to wait until flowering to determine male and female plants. male and female bittersweet flowers

I hate using chemicals on anything, but I have to agree that Ken's method is very handy and I have adopted it. I put undiluted roundup in a dropper bottle, then cut the offender at/near ground level then drop RU on the cut stump. Done and done. I use very little chemical and none of it sprays around to unwanted places. The cats can follow me around as I'm doing this and I don't worry. I don't feel an urge to take a huge shower after doing this - it's as clean as one can be while tackling an unpleasant task. I've started doing this on non-woody plants like thistles and it works too. Good luck!