# Plant ID



## ratherboutside (Mar 19, 2010)

I need some help identifying 2 brushy tree in my swamp. Any help would be appreciated. I have a good idea but am not sure. Thanks for any help.

First

















Second


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## Albaman (Mar 14, 2014)

Showed your photos to She Who Must Be Obeyed who is the green fingered one of the family and she reckons they look like Autumn Olive aka Autumn berry, an invasive weed and a real pain to get rid of.

She reckons that if you want them gone the best way to do it is cut them down and then brush full strength glyphosate herbicide onto the stumps straight after cutting. The remaining stump and roots quickly absorb the herbicide and die.

She also reckons that if you don't cut them down they will take over very fast.


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## ratherboutside (Mar 19, 2010)

Albaman said:


> Showed your photos to She Who Must Be Obeyed who is the green fingered one of the family and she reckons they look like Autumn Olive aka Autumn berry, an invasive weed and a real pain to get rid of.
> 
> She reckons that if you want them gone the best way to do it is cut them down and then brush full strength glyphosate herbicide onto the stumps straight after cutting. The remaining stump and roots quickly absorb the herbicide and die.
> 
> She also reckons that if you don't cut them down they will take over very fast.


Already everywhere. The deer love it. I need some screen for another spot that is a grassy wetland. I would move some if it isn't invasive.


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## hitechman (Feb 25, 2002)

They look more like Michigan Holly (Winterberry - Ilex verticillata) to me. Autumn olive berries are paler and almost a translucent red.

AO berries have short thin stems on each berry and can grow in poor soils in full sun to partial shade. The only place it wouldn’t grow was in wet areas or deep shade. Stems usually (but not always) have long thorns.

MH is almost attached to the branch with a thick, almost absent stem, and grows in wet and swampy areas. Leaves of both are similar. I've never seen deer eat winterberry, and am guessing it is not a preferred food.

Steve


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## Albaman (Mar 14, 2014)

hitechman said:


> They look more like Michigan Holly (Winterberry - Ilex verticillata) to me. Autumn olive berries are paler and almost a translucent red.
> 
> AO berries have short thin stems on each berry and can grow in poor soils in full sun to partial shade. The only place it wouldn’t grow was in wet areas or deep shade. Stems usually (but not always) have long thorns.
> 
> ...


SWMBO says you could be right Steve. Hell I nearly passed out here mate, my old lady admitting she could be wrong. Never thought I'd see the day.


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## MSUFW07 (Jan 22, 2009)

The second set of pictures is glossy buckthorn. That is an invasive. It will start to shade other plants out and really take over, eventually it will be the only thing growing in the wetland. You have to treat the stump once you cut it down. We used round-up, and this is the time of year to do it. When I was in college, I worked for The Nature Conservancy, and a couple of other non-profits and glossy buckthorn, was about the worst invasive in a wetland, followed by autumn olive in the uplands. Both would make mono-cultures where they were allowed to take over. Cut it down and get rid of it.


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## ratherboutside (Mar 19, 2010)

MSUFW07 said:


> The second set of pictures is glossy buckthorn. That is an invasive. It will start to shade other plants out and really take over, eventually it will be the only thing growing in the wetland. You have to treat the stump once you cut it down. We used round-up, and this is the time of year to do it. When I was in college, I worked for The Nature Conservancy, and a couple of other non-profits and glossy buckthorn, was about the worst invasive in a wetland, followed by autumn olive in the uplands. Both would make mono-cultures where they were allowed to take over. Cut it down and get rid of it.


Not sure I can get rid if it at this point. It covers the entire area. Not just mine but the entire run of the swamp. I would go broke buying tordon to spray the stump if I tried to kill it all. I won't use it to make a screen cut I can't get rid of it. That ship sailed years ago before I bought it.


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## bobberbill (Apr 5, 2011)

Autumn Olive leaves are pointed at the ends, and the underside of the leaf is a glistening silver metal-flake color. Bush honeysuckle is also and invasive with red berries.


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## MSUFW07 (Jan 22, 2009)

Its not autumn olive, the leaves are of AO are not serrated and it looks like the leaves are serrated in the first picture. Also AO has opposite leaves like a maple does rather then alternate like an oak would, nd the leaves in the first picture look alternate to me. The berries are the wrong color. One of AO other names is Silver Berry, the berries are reddish but have a silvery look to them also, as hitechman said they are kind of translucent. 

Out of curiosity how many acres of area are you dealing with? I have seem areas of Glossy Buckthorn get so thick that nothing could walk thru, just a thicket of GBT that when you pushed your way thru you were walking on bent over stems and never really walked on the ground. 

If you get a change google, Ives Road Fen. Its in Tecumseh, I worked there for a summer and they have cleared close to or over 100 acres of GBT since they bought it, but that was with a lot of volunteer hours. So it may seem like an impossible feat, it can be done and best to get ahead of it instead of throwing up your hands and just letting it go.


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## ratherboutside (Mar 19, 2010)

MSUFW07 said:


> Its not autumn olive, the leaves are of AO are not serrated and it looks like the leaves are serrated in the first picture. Also AO has opposite leaves like a maple does rather then alternate like an oak would, nd the leaves in the first picture look alternate to me. The berries are the wrong color. One of AO other names is Silver Berry, the berries are reddish but have a silvery look to them also, as hitechman said they are kind of translucent.
> 
> Out of curiosity how many acres of area are you dealing with? I have seem areas of Glossy Buckthorn get so thick that nothing could walk thru, just a thicket of GBT that when you pushed your way thru you were walking on bent over stems and never really walked on the ground.
> 
> If you get a change google, Ives Road Fen. Its in Tecumseh, I worked there for a summer and they have cleared close to or over 100 acres of GBT since they bought it, but that was with a lot of volunteer hours. So it may seem like an impossible feat, it can be done and best to get ahead of it instead of throwing up your hands and just letting it go.


I would say I have like 15 acres of it. It is very thick. The deer like bedding in it and have many trails thru it. Looking back through the Google ariels, it has been there since at least 1998. Even if you kill the shrubs now, they will just come back unless I plants things to keep it down or I end up with an open field which I also don't want. I don't have the money to kill it and plant enough native plant to keep it from coming back.


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## ratherboutside (Mar 19, 2010)

Also agree it's not autumn olive. I have been fighting that also and these are different.


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## Anish (Mar 6, 2009)

Definitely Michigan Holly.

As was mentioned in an earlier post AO is almost translucent and looks like it has little metallic flecks all over it.

On a side note MH is poisonous! AO is edible and quite tasty.


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