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Vermont Invasives

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Spotted knapweed

Centaurea stoebe

  • Read more about Spotted knapweed
  • Spotted knapweed: characteristic black-tipped bracts.
  • Spotted knapweed: flowers, pinkish-to-lavender thistle plume to radiate out and up.
  • Spotted knapweed: flowers going to seed. Tightly packed seed heads of oblong, brownish, hairy nutlets, topped by short stubby bristles.
  • Spotted knapweed: leaves are alternate, grayish-green. Plants grow up to 3' tall.
  • Look-alike: field thistle (Cirsium discolor) flower bud bracts have silver stripe and a spine.

Tree-of-heaven

Ailanthus altissima

  • Read more about Tree-of-heaven
  • Tree-of-heaven: leaves are pinnately compound and 1-4 ft. in length with 10-41 leaflets.
  • Tree-of-heaven: fruit produced on female plants are tan to reddish, single winged and can be wind or water-dispersed.
  • Tree-of-heaven: infestation.
  • Tree-of-heaven: leaves have gland on underside of the leaf.
  • Look-alike: staghorn sumac (Rhus hirta) has toothed leaf edges, and lacks the tell-tale glands that Tree-of-heaven have on the underside of the leaf.

Swallowwort, Pale

Vincetoxicum rossicum

  • Read more about Swallowwort, Pale
  • Pale swallowwort: flowers are dark pink to deep red, 5-petaled, star-shaped and appear in clusters.
  • Pale swallowwort: flowers are dark pink to deep red, 5-petaled, star-shaped and appear in clusters.
  • Pale swallowwort: fruits are similar to milkweed pods. They are slender, 2-3 in. long and split to reveal small seeds with tufts of white hairs.
  • Pale swallowwort: infestation.
  • Pale swallowwort: fruits are similar to milkweed pods. They are slender, 2-3 in. long and split to reveal small seeds with tufts of white hairs.
  • Look-alike: black swallowwort (also an invasive species) has oval leaves and dark blue/purple flowers.

Japanese Stiltgrass

Microstegium vimineum

  • Read more about Japanese Stiltgrass
  • Japanese stiltgrass: infestation.
  • Japanese stiltgrass: a small grass species, with alternately arranged leaves.
  • Japanese stiltgrass: leaves are pale-green, with a slightly textured surface, and silvery lines along the blade distinguish stiltgrass from native grass look-alikes.
  • Look-alike: white cutgrass (Leersia virginica), native plant, has distinctly longer leaves and shorter spikelets.
  • Look-alike: white cutgrass (Leersia virginica), native plant, has distinctly longer leaves and shorter spikelets.

Yellow Flag Iris

Iris pseudacorus

  • Read more about Yellow Flag Iris
  • Yellow iris: flowers are usually yellow, their color can range from nearly white to cream.
  • Yellow iris: fruits are 1.6-2.7 in. long capsules. The average capsule contains about 120 white seeds that harden and turn brown as they mature.
  • Yellow iris: infestation.
  • Look-alike: harlequin blue flag iris (Iris versicolor), native to North Ameriva,  only looks alike when not in bloom.

Wild Chervil

Anthriscus sylvestris

  • Read more about Wild Chervil
  • Wild chervil: umbels of this plant are large, having 6-15 rays that can reach up to 1.5 in. in length. The flowers are white and have 5 notched petals.
  • Wild Chervil: fruits are smooth, lanceolate in shape and measure 0.25 in. long. The fruits start out green and turn brown as they ripen.
  • Wild chervil: infestation.
  • Wild chervil: alternately arranged, compound, fern-like leaves.
  • Look-alike: common caraway (Carum carvi).
  • Look-alike: queen Anne's lace (Daucus carota).

Honeysuckles, Shrub

Lonicera sp.

  • Read more about Honeysuckles, Shrub
  • Morrow’s honeysuckle: hairy underside of leaf, white flowers, leaves egg shape with slight taper at tip.
  • Amur honeysuckle: hairy leaf that is egg shaped with a long taper at tip, white flowers that yellow with time
  • Shrub Honeysuckle: twinned berries, that are generally red to yellow in color
  • Tatarian honeysuckle: flowers are shades of pink-red and asymmetrical, leaves are not hairy, leaves are egg shaped with rounded base
  • Bell Honeysuckle: variable characteristics, but usually has pink flowers.
  • Shrub Honeysuckle: hollow, brown pith
  • Look-alike: American honeysuckle has yellow tubular flowers, leaves can be hairy, and has a solid, white pith. This plant is native.

Loosestrife, Purple

Lythrum salicaria

  • Read more about Loosestrife, Purple
  • Purple loosestrife: pink to purplish flowers develop in long spikes at the tops of the stems.
  • Purple loosestrife: fruits are capsules that are enclosed in the hairy sepals and contain several reddish brown seeds.
  • Purple loosestrife: infestation.
  • Purple loosestrife: pink to purplish flowers develop in long spikes at the tops of the stems.
  • Purple loosestrife: infestation.
  • Look-alike: narrow-leaved fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium)  flowers have four petals and leaves are alternately arranged.

Norway Maple

Acer platanoides

  • Read more about Norway Maple
  • Norway maple: palmately lobed leaves are opposite and have 5 to 7 sharply acuminate lobes.
  • Norway maple: twig, leaves are opposite.
  • Norway maple: bark of the tree is grayish and regularly and shallowly grooved.
  • Norway maple: fall foliage.
  • Norway maple: fruit (samaras) are green when young and turn yellow, then brown, with age. The samara wings are divergent, reaching nearly 180 degree angle to each other and are dispersed by wind.
  • Norway maple: tree form.
  • Look-alike: sugar maple leaves have five lobes. The leaf petiole does not produce a white sap when broken.

Japanese Stilt-grass

Microstegium vimineum

  • Read more about Japanese Stilt-grass

Pagination

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This website was supported by an Innovations and Collaborations Grant from the Vermont Community Foundation.

Site by Tamarack Media Cooperative. Cover image by Brian Leedy.