Bushkiller is an Asian vine in the grape family that has invaded parts of the southern US, where it can smother shrubs and small trees under its weight and shade. Each leaf has five toothed leaflets, and a grows opposite each leaf. Once established it is very hard to get rid of, because it regrows from underground stems.
Appearance
- Growth form
- A perennial climbing or scrambling vine that grows over other plants and can block their sunlight.
- Leaves
- Compound leaves with five toothed leaflets about 1–3 in (2.5–7.5 cm) long. The undersides are whitish, and new growth can be reddish.
- Flowers
- Tiny salmon-pink to yellowish flowers in flat-topped clusters in late summer.
- Fruit
- Small grape-like berries that range from white to purple-black, with 2–4 seeds each.
Look-alikes
Virginia creeperParthenocissus quinquefolia
Virginia creeper's forked tendrils end in small sticky pads that let it climb walls, and its leaves turn red in fall. Bushkiller's leaflets are whitish underneath.
Why they get mixed upA native grape-family vine that also usually has five leaflets.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Forest edges
- Disturbed ground
- Fences and hedges
- Range
- Native across tropical and subtropical Asia, northern Australia, and the western Pacific. In the US it has been introduced to Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, and Hawaii.
- Preferred conditions
- Grows in USDA hardiness zones 7a–10b.
Growing it
- Care
- Not a garden plant in the US. Cutting stems at ground level and treating them with herbicide has had some success. Composting is not recommended, since pieces can regrow.
- Propagation
- Spreads by underground stems () and resprouts after being cut. In North America it is thought to spread only this way, without seeds.
Name and classification
- About the name
- Long known as Cayratia japonica, it is now placed in the genus Causonis.
Conservation
- Conservation
- Listed as a noxious weed in North Carolina, on Alabama's invasive plant watch list, and as an invasive species of concern in Maryland.
More species to explore
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