TREESTREES • broadly winged samaras • milky sap • stout twigs • broad leaves, green on both sides • winter buds with only 4-6 scales

Acer platanoides –Norway Maple Ailanthus altissima – tree of heaven

•compound leaves with up to 40 leaflets •Leaflets entire except for 1-2 remnant teeth at base •Bruised foliage and twigs smell horrible •Fruits a samara similar to maple fruit •Fruits turn rusty brown •Bark smooth gray SHRUBS Berberis vulgaris – common barberry •Thorny fountain shaped shrub •Multi-parted thorn at each flush of leaves •Flowers held in a drooping raceme •Fruit a red drupe •Flowers golden yellow •Leaves bristle toothed Elaeagnus angustifolia – Russian olive

•Often confused with autumn olive •No known escaped population in New England •Flowers yellow •Leaves silvery on both sides •Fruits yellow or dull red •Branches and stems heavily armed with true thorns Elaeagnus umbellata – autumn olive

•15 to 20 foot high shrub •Prefers dry nutrient poor soils •Similar to willows from a distance •Leaves green on top and silver beneath •Flowers cream colored and very fragrant •Fruit a red berry appearing as if sprinkled with glitter •Young twigs have prominent yellow resin dots •Small tree/shrub, 15 to 20 ft. •Hard to distinguish •Leaves entire and egg-shaped •Flowers white, May- September •Fruit blue-black, June-October •Bark marked with white lenticels •Can confuse with alders or cherries – both have toothed leaves •Roots red Frangula alnus – glossy buckthorn Ligustrum obtusifolium –border privet •Need flowers to absolutely identify •Flowers and fruits terminal; fruits blue •Bark gray and smooth •Not sure about what species we have in NE •Nor sure which of the five are invasive •Characters that identify this one are: -corolla tubes twice as long as lobes -anthers not reaching the tip of the tube -twigs densely covered with long soft hairs Lonicera x bella – Pretty or Belle’s honeysuckle

•Shrub to 15 feet, very weak and twiggy in appearance •Leaves ovate to elliptic •Fruit red •Bark gray and older stems shreddy in appearance •Stems hollow •Young twigs and leaves sparsely pubescent •Corollas glaborous without •Flowers typically white fading to pink, fragrant •Bracteoles not glandular, and half or less as long as ovary •Extremely variable Loncera mackii – Amur honeysuckle

•Flower stalks shorter than leaf stalks •Leaves acuminate – coming to a distinct point at the tip •Fruits deep red •Flowers white fading to yellow •Stems hollow •Bark gray, somewhat shreddy older stems •Shrub to 15 ft. Lonicera morrowii –Morrow’s honeysuckle

•Shrub to 15 feet, very weak and twiggy in appearance •Leaves ovate to elliptic •Fruit red •Bark gray and older stems shreddy in appearance •Stems hollow •Young twigs and leaves densely pubescent •Corollas slightly pubescent without •Flowers typically white fading to yellow fragrant •Bracteoles not glandular, and half or more than half as long as ovary Lonicera tatarica – Tatarian honeysuckle

•Flowers typically red to deep pink •Fruits red •Leaves without down or pubescence on underside •Leaves blue green, acute •Stems hairless and hollow •Bark shreddy in appearance, gray Rhamnus cathartica – common buckthorn •Small tree, often multi stemmed •Bark coppery color and exfoliating •Overall resembles old crab apples or apple trees •Leaves toothed, often with prominent veining •Fruit blue-black •Flowers white in May/June •Has weak thorn at each branch tip and major branch split •Often is heavily armed with thorns on trunk and branches •Prefers sweeter soils and is an upland species WOODY VINES Ampelopsis brevipedunculata - porcelainberry

•Woody vine •Scrambles and climbs, not strangles •Fruit blue •Leaves maple shaped when small •Larger leaves take on a grape leaf appearance Mostly a problem near the coast Lonicera japonica – Japanese honeysuckle

•Climbing or scrambling vine •Flowers fragrant, long bloom period •Come out white and fade to yellow •Fruit blue/black •Leaves opposite and entire, sometimes lobed lower down •Sun or shade, more flowers in sun •Spreads vegetatively as well