Oriental bittersweet Oriental bittersweet

Vines 40+ m. Leaves: blade suborbiculate to broadly oblong-obovate or ovate-orbiculate, 4–6 × 3–5 cm, aestivation conduplicate. Inflorescences axillary, cymes, 1–2 cm. Staminate flowers: pollen white. Capsules yellow when mature, globose, 7–10 mm diam., glabrous. Seeds orange, ellipsoid, 6 mm. 2n = 46.

Flowering spring–summer. Thickets, woodland margins, open woods, roadsides, usually rich soils; 0–900 m; introduced; N.B., Ont., P.E.I., Que.; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., D.C., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mo., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis.; Asia (China, Japan, Korea).

Celastrus orbiculatus has become a seriously invasive plant in much of eastern North America.