Tagged With: Invasive Plant

Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus)

Photograph taken on Friday, September 25, 2020 by Henry
Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus)

Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus)

As a landscape plant, burning bush (Euonymus alatus) can be quite striking. I hesitate to ever recommend it. It is an invasive and its use is actively discouraged in many areas (and even banned in Massachusetts, I believe). It’s a native of northeastern Asia and is naturalized over much of eastern North America. The plant we have is in a pot, which helps keep it small, although I’m not really sure I want even that much in my yard. Not that getting rid of ours is going to make much difference, as this is grown all over our area and the cat is already out of the bag.

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Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)

Photograph taken on Monday, October 26, 2020 by Henry
<em>Berberis thunbergii</em> (Japanese barberry)

Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)

Cathy and I drove up to pick up our car from the shop this evening and then I stopped at the nature center on the way home to see if I could find anything worth photographing. I took a few nice pictures including a few of the berries of a Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii, also known as Thunberg’s barberry). This is an invasive species and I generally don’t recommend it. It’s somewhat too late to worry about, though, because it’s already everywhere. And of course there are hundreds of them at the garden center. They do may nice plantings, so I understand why people use them. Note that the fruit is edible and I have used it in a few Persian dishes. They have a great, tart flavor, similar to cranberries.

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Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii)

Photograph taken on Saturday, November 28, 2020 by Henry
Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii)

Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii)

Today’s walk was in Redgate Park, formerly Redgate Golf Course. We walked the back nine today and enjoyed the cool weather and saw quite a few birds, including some blue birds and a hawk that I got a pretty decent photo of as it took off from a branch. This is Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii), a widely naturalized alien plant that’s found throughout our woods. I know we aren’t suppose to like invasive, non-native plants but you have to admit, its fall colors are quite spectacular.

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Ficaria verna

Photograph taken on Sunday, March 21, 2021 by Henry
Ficaria verna

Ficaria verna

Dorothy, Cathy, and I walked on the Seneca Greenway Trail this afternoon, parking where MD 28 crosses Seneca Creek and walking downstream. We only saw a few other people and it was a very pleasant walk. It’s relatively flat, with only a few ups and downs to deal with. The birds were out in force and we heard them all around, although we weren’t stopping to see them so much and didn’t really get very close to any. I did stop to take a few photos, including of this fig buttercup, also known as lesser celandine. It was formerly classified as Ranunculus ficaria but is now Ficaria verna. It’s an invasive, non-native species that grows in many of our wetlands.

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Carduus nutans (Musk Thistle)

Photograph taken on Wednesday, June 07, 2023 by Henry
<em>Carduus nutans</em> (Musk Thistle)

Carduus nutans (Musk Thistle)

The musk thistle (Carduus nutans), also commonly known as the nodding or nodding plumeless thistle, is an invasive species introduced into the United States around the middle of the 19th century. It has now spread to all of the lower 48 states (with the possible exceptions of Florida, Vermont, and Maine, although I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s there, as well) and the lower provinces of Canada from British Columbia to Newfoundland. It’s a rather tall and somewhat striking plant with a large, and as you can see showy bloom. It is usually a biennial but in warmer climates can flower in its first year. Rather than there being single, large flowers, each of the purple threads in the flowerhead is technically a separate flower.

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