• Subject: Re: storm....+ bittersweet question
• From: A*@aol.com
• Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2012 15:59:45 -0400 (EDT)

It is blowing pretty hard here, and raining a bit, but while I still have 
power I 
am working on a piece for my upcoming garden club newsletter.  Since it is
good to be in contact with this group again, I will turn to you for help in 
this 
matter.
 
At a meeting on Monday a member brought in a very handsome table 
arrangement for the luncheon which included a lot of very large, brignt
bittersweet berries.  We immediately lept to know which kind of bittersweet
they were.  Celastrus scandens, or American Bittersweet is on the protected
plant list and may not be used in flower shows.  Since this was not a flower
show, that was not the question.  We just wanted to know what it was.  
She said she got it from a neighbor's yard.  That was all she knew.  We
also know that C. orbiculatus, or Japanese Bittersweet, is an invasive 
alien,
most to be deplored around here as it is blanketing whole areas.  These
berries were larger and thicker than those we had seen in the wild.  We 
were a bunch of knowledgable people, but could not quite reach a decision
about these branches.
 
I have just spent an hour searching websites, and still don't have a 
decision.
I know you can distinguish between the two by leaf shape, but the leaves
were gone from these branches.  As I look at the pictures of each of the
two species, I can't really distinguish.  I know what it says about one 
having
terminal clusters and the other growing at axles of leaves, but the pictures
of Japanese bittersweet show clusters, and those of the American show
several clusters too.  I thuoght this would be easy, but now I am totally
frustrated.  Help!
 
Auralie

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