At 08:00 PM 12/13/2007, Christian wrote:
>I was hand grazing my horses yesterday-plenty of pasture just not in
>the fence- and one of them got hold of this vine. She decided she
>liked it and was going after it with a vengence, even trying several
>times to snatch this piece out of my hands.
>
>Does anyone know what it is? It's quite prolific on my property and
>if it's hazardous to horses it must be eradicated. Sorry, it wilted
>a bit before I remembered to take the picture.
>
>The berries are at the utmost 1/4" in diameter. They contain more
>than two seeds, not round and not flat. The juice does not stain my
>fingers. The fruit looks very much like a minature blueberry, but
>without that distinctive eye(?).
>
> The stem is woody, and if I remember correctly from weeding the
> raspberries the root grows really close under the ground and pulls
> up very easily. No thorns, very slight fuzzyness on the stem.
Looks like Japanese honeysuckle, Lonicera japonica. It's an invasive
plant, but it isn't on two lists I checked of plants toxic to horses,
and it's terrifically common. (What did surprise and distress me was
the news that wilted red maple leaves (Acer rubrum) can be fatal to
horses.) You can look up more about it with the scientific name in Google.
--Dawn
