Skip to main content
  • Intro to Invasives
    • What are invasive species?
    • What are their impacts?
  • Get Involved
    • Manage
    • Outreach
    • Report
      • Reporting Upland Plants
      • Reporting a Tree Disease
      • Reporting an Aquatic Animal
      • Reporting an Aquatic Plant
      • Reporting an Invasive Insect
    • Slow the Spread
      • Clean, Drain, Dry
      • Don't Move Firewood
      • Arrive Clean Campaign
      • Slow the Spread of EAB
      • Vermont Plant Quarantine
    • Volunteer
  • News & Events
    • Events
    • News
    • E-News Sign-Up
  • About Us
    • Contact
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram

Vermont Invasives

Main navigation

  • Water
  • Land

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Backyard

Backyard

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

Knotweed, Japanese

Fallopia japonica

  • Read more about Knotweed, Japanese
  • Japanese knotweed: infestation.
  • Japanese knotweed: seeds are triangular, and very small (~1/10").
  • Japanese knotweed: minute greenish-white flowers occur in sprays during the summer.
  • Japanese knotweed: leaves are large, with a squared off leaf base.
  • Japanese knotweed: new shoot of Japanese knotweed.
  • Japanese knotweed: stalks in winter.
  • Look-alike: invasive Japanese knotweed (left) looks like Giant knotweed (right), but has squared off leaf base, where Giant knotweed leaf base is more "heart-shaped"

Barberry, Japanese

Berberis thunbergii

  • Read more about Barberry, Japanese
  • Japanese barberry: infestation.
  • Japanese barberry: infestation in fall/winter.
  • Japanese barberry: inner bark of canes and roots can be bright yellow.
  • Japanese barberry: flowers are droopy, in small clusters of 2-5, pale yellow. Individual thorns occur along the canes.
  • Look-alike: common barberry, has three pronged spines, oval leaves with toothed edges, and flowers appear in droopy clusters

Goutweed or Bishop's Weed

Aegopodium podagraria

  • Read more about Goutweed or Bishop's Weed
  • Goutweed: white flowers are arranged in umbels that are 2.25-4.75 in. in diameter. Each umbel is borne on a long peduncle.
  • Goutweed: leaves are compound and toothed, and arrangement is alternate. This variegated form has bluish-green leaves with creamy white edges.
  • Goutweed: infestation.
  • Look-alike: Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea) has yellow flowers and a smaller stature. This is a native plant.

Buckthorn, Glossy

Frangula alnus

  • Read more about Buckthorn, Glossy
  • Glossy buckthorn: dark green leaves are shiny, alternate (sometime opposite) and simple with prominent venation.
  • Glossy buckthorn: fleshy fruit ripens from red to a dark purple or black color.
  • Glossy buckthorn: bark is gray to brown with white lenticels.
  • Glossy Buckthorn leaves (left) vs. Common Buckthorn leaves (right)
  • Look-alike: common chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) has droopy clusters of flowers and fruit, and leaf veins do not run parallel towards the tip like in common buckthorn

Giant Hogweed

Heracleum mantegazzianum

  • Read more about Giant Hogweed
  • Giant hogweed: white flowers are on a large umbrella-shaped head at that can be up to 2.5 ft. in diameter.
  • Giant hogweed: white flowers are on a large umbrella-shaped head at that can be up to 2.5 ft. in diameter.
  • Giant hogweed: white flowers are on a large umbrella-shaped head at that can be up to 2.5 ft. in diameter.
  • Giant hogweed: white flowers are on a large umbrella-shaped head at that can be up to 2.5 ft. in diameter.
  • Giant hogweed: can reach 15-20 feet tall.
  • Giant hogweed: has thick, hollow stems, with purple patches and course bristles.
  • Giant hogweed: can reach 15-20 feet tall. Hollow stems are 2-4 inches in diameter with dark reddish-purple spots and bristles.
  • Giant hogweed: can reach 15-20 feet tall. Hollow stems are 2-4 inches in diameter with dark reddish-purple spots and bristles.
  • Giant hogweed: leaves are deeply lobed, sharply pointed.
  • Look-alike: American cow parsnip (native to North America) is large, but has flat-topped flower clusters

Pagination

  • Previous page ‹‹
  • Page 13
  • Next page ››
Subscribe to Backyard

Helpful Information

  • Contact
  • Slow the Spread
  • Manage
  • Events

Main navigation

  • Water
  • Land

Report it!

  • Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation
  • Vermont Extension

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.