When Buckthorn Attacks
Common buckthorn looks like a tall shrub or small tree, growing as tall as 25 feet. Most of the twigs have short, sharp thorns at the tip. The leaves are oval with a pointed tip and edged with fine teeth. The bark is gray to brown, with a rough texture when it's mature. It can look a lot like the bark of plums or cherries. The fruit is black, in clusters like tiny berries, and ripens in late summer and early fall.
Glossy buckthorn is also a tall shrub or small tree, up to 18 feet tall. The leaves are oval, with smooth edges and hairy undersides. The bark is brown with silvery projections. Its fruits are also small, clustered, and berry-like, and ripen from reddish-brown to dark purple in late summer and early fall.
Both buckthorn species have green leaves well into the fall, after most other deciduous trees have lost their leaves. Both also have bright yellow or orange inner bark, which can be revealed by scraping. Birds spread the seeds by eating the fruits.
Buckthorn leafs out early in the season and grows aggressively. It can shade and crowd out more desirable tree species.
Warning: Some native buckthorns look very similar to the invasives. If you're not sure what you have, an expert can help.
The MN DNR website has a great resource that may help you identify buckthorn.
If you have buckthorn, you can take steps to destroy it and bring back native plants to your woods.
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