Bush Honeysuckle
Lonicera maackii

Height: 6-20 ft (shrub or bush)

Leaves: Opposite on the twig and ovate.

Flower: White, changing to yellow. Blooms May-June.

Fruit: Berries are typically dark red and found in pairs. They may remain on the shrub through winter. Fruit matures September-October.

Ecosystem: Honeysuckle leafs out earlier in the spring than most native shrubs and holds its leaves later into the fall. This plant severely limits the ability of forests to grow.

Management: Young shrubs are easy to pull when soil is moist. Older shrubs can be pulled with a weed wrench or cut and immediately treated with a concentrated solution of glyphosate (commercially sold as Roundup ). Control may take 3-5 years.

Common Privet
Ligustrum vulgare

Height: Up to 15 ft. tall

Bark: Whitish-tan to gray in color and smooth in texture.

Leaves: Half evergreen, holding their foliage into winter, but dropping them before spring. Leaves are elliptic to ovate in shape, less than 2.5 inches long, glossy on top, and oppositely arranged on the twig.

Flowers: Small and white blooming from June to July.

Fruit: Black berrylike clusters ripening in September and persisting through the winter.

Ecosystem: Brought to the U.S. as an ornamental shrub, it generally inhabits floodplains and low lying areas, producing many seeds and sprouting from roots.

Management: Young plants can be hand pulled and shrubs should be cut multiple times or the cut stump treated immediately with a concentrated solution of glyphosate (20% concentrated Roundup mixed with water).

Tree of Heaven
Ailanthus altissima

Height: Grows rapidly to 80-100 ft.

Leaves: Compound leaves with 3 inch long leaflets that are lanceolate shaped and covered in minute hairs. 1-5 teeth on each leaf and they have a dark green gland on the underside. Crushed foliage and broken twigs smell like burnt peanut butter.

Bark: Smooth, striped, gray-brown or light brown bark cracks with age and exhibits light-colored grooves.

Flowers: Flowers are 0.25 in. long and bloom from the top of the tree in late May through early June.

Ecosystem: When established, this tree sends up many root sprouts rapidly forming a dense colony. Chemicals from this tree hinder the growth of other plants.

Management: Cutting the tree encourages root sprouts. Pull small trees up by hand. Notching the trunk of larger trees and squirting a systemic herbicide is an effective method of control called "hack and squirt."

Japanese Grass
Microstegium vimineum

Height: Branched annual grass reaching a height of 24-39 in.

Leaves: Alternate on stem, lanceolate, 4 in long, with an off-center midrib.

Seeds: Grain is yellow to red and elliptical. Seeds mature over a period of about two weeks in September-October. Each plant can produce 100 to 1000 seeds that can remain viable in the soil for 3 years.

Ecosystem: Usually given a start by a land disturbance (grazing, burning, mowing, or removal of other invasive species) it can monopolize the ground plant community in 5 years, outcompeting native plants.

Management: This grass can be hand pulled, cut to the ground with a weedeater, or mowed in August or September before the seeds set. This must be done for several years.