Plant ID Needed

last year

I live in zone 7a, Georgia. I saw this plant at the base of a woodline the other day and I don't know what it is. It looks like a sumac, but I don't know if it's native. I wouldn't mind planting it in a shady spot on my property. I didn't know if it could survive.

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Comments (6)

cecily 7A
last year
Nandina domestica aka heavenly bamboo. It's an invasive in the south.
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
last year
last modified: last year
It’s Nandina domestica. An invasive species in Georgia. https://georgiawildlife.com/out-my-backdoor-nandina-falls-grace

Oops. Transatlantic delay strikes again.
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darkangel452
Original Author
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Thank you for the lightning fast replies. I guess that won't be coming to my house anytime soon. Much appreciated!
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
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A great shrub in the right situation - tough, evergreen and adapted to a wide range of growing conditions. Just not anywhere in the South :-)
Jay 6a Chicago
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The berries of Nandina domestica are toxic, and they kill birds and other wildlife.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
last year
last modified: last year
^^^ That is a bit of an overstatement. Yes, the berries are toxic. They contain hydrocyanic acid......but then so do the berries of English or cherry laurel, the seeds or pits of fruits like cherries, almonds, apricots, rowan, hawthorns, crabapples, apples, serviceberries, cotoneaster berries, macadamia nuts, sorghum, flax and lima and butter beans. Eat enough cherries with the pits and you'd be poisoned too!!

The entire "killing off birds" hoopla occurred after finding 5 cedar waxwings dead in Georgia garden. They were later determined to have died from cyanide poisoning after stuffing themselves on nandina berries. Apparently cedar waxwings are gluttons that will eat until their bodies cannot contain another morsel. And it isn’t just nandina berries. Consider the following other incidents with cedar waxwings.

* South Dakota: killed by eating cotoneaster flowers.

* Nebraska: killed by eating crabapples, cotoneasters.

* Indiana: ethanol poisoning from overwintered hawthorn fruit.

* Texas: killed by gorging on blueberries along a highway. “They’re cedar waxwings,” said Capt. Garry Collins of Texas Parks & Wildlife, rather nonchalantly. “It’s a natural phenomenon. “It’s seasonal. Happens nearly every year.”

Only cedar waxwings have been affected in this manner due to their voracious appetites. Many, many other birds species also feed on ALL of these fruits and berries with no ill affect!!

Yes, the plant can be invasive in certain areas. But it is not responsible for the mass slaughter of birds. Unless they are very greedy cedar waxwings.

btw, there are also non-flowering forms of nandina that are neither toxic nor invasive.