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Vermont Invasives

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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

Garlic Mustard

Alliaria petiolata

  • Read more about Garlic Mustard
  • Garlic mustard: foliage on first-year rosettes is green, heart-shaped.
  • Garlic mustard: second-year plants produce a tall flowering stalk; each flower has four small, white petals in the early spring.
  • Garlic mustard: infestation.
  • Garlic mustard: mature seeds are shiny black and produced in erect, slender green pods which turn pale brown when mature.
  • Look-alike: violet (Viola sp.)
  • Look-alike: toothwort (Cardamine concatenata).

Dame's Rocket

Hesperis matronalis

  • Read more about Dame's Rocket
  • Dame's rocket: showy, fragrant flowers vary in color from white to purple or pink.
  • Dame's rocket: showy, fragrant flowers vary in color from white to purple or pink.
  • Dame's rocket: alternate leaves are broadly lanceolate and sessile or born on short petioles. Leaves are 2-6 in. long and hairy.
  • Dame's rocket: alternate leaves are broadly lanceolate and sessile or born on short petioles. Leaves are 2-6 in. long and hairy.
  • Dame's rocket: alternate leaves are broadly lanceolate and sessile or born on short petioles. Leaves are 2-6 in. long and hairy.
  • Dame's rocket: siliques (long slender fruits) are 2-4 in. in length and contain a large number of seeds.
  • Dame's rocket: infestation.
  • Look-alike: downy phlox (Phlox pilosa), five petals versus four.

Common Reed

Phragmites australis

  • Read more about Common Reed
  • Common reed: flower heads are dense, fluffy, gray or purple in color.
  • Common reed: flower heads are dense, fluffy, gray or purple in color.
  • Common reed: flower heads are dense, fluffy, gray or purple in color.
  • Common reed: stem and sheath.
  • Common reed: leaves are 6-23.6 in. long, 0.4-2.4 in. wide, flat and glabrous.
  • Common reed: infestation.
  • Common reed: infestation.
  • Common reed: stem and sheath.
  • Common reed: root.
  • Look-alike: American reed, (Phragmites americanus ) middle and upper stem internodes are smooth, shiny and red-brown to dark red-brown during the growing season.
  • Look-alike: American reed, (Phragmites americanus) middle and upper stem internodes are smooth, shiny and red-brown to dark red-brown during the growing season.

Pagination

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