Bittersweet: Beauty and Beast

by Catherine Smith & James Lesher 

“It was a bittersweet moment for me.” Have you ever said that? Or heard others say it? Bittersweet, the plant, is also a word expressing mixed emotions. Later we’ll say more about language, but first we’ll talk about bittersweet the plant.

Native American and non-native “Oriental” bittersweet species are present at ChicoryLane. Botanically, they differ by leaf shape, flower and fruit placement, fruit size, pollen color, and bark texture. They can hybridize. Both are invasive, although the American native’s scarcity makes it less problematic. We’ve found only one example at ChicoryLane in 2024.

In contrast, non-native “Oriental” bittersweet is aggressive. On ChicoryLane’s wooded hillside, non-native bittersweet strangles hardwood trees (photo, above) that have managed to break through the suffocating shrub layer of autumn olive, multiflora rose, and honeysuckle shrubs only to be brought down by bittersweet. Additionally, bittersweet seedlings carpet the shady ground in Spring and hoard available sunlight, stifling photosynthesis by tree seedlings.

The non-native is replacing the native at ChicoryLane and elsewhere. Birds spread the seeds. People have historically installed it along roadsides for erosion control, landscaped with it, and used its striking red fruits with yellow petals in dried flower arrangements. Confession: for years at ChicoryLane we encouraged a thick ”Oriental” bittersweet vine to climb on the woodshed. Graceful, fruity branches brightened our Thanksgiving dinner table. No longer. That woodshed vine has been cut down. As a conservation practice, now we spend hours in Fall cutting the vines at ground level, painting the stumps with herbicide, then spraying emergent growth in Spring to halt fruit-set.

Pictured Above: Celastrus orbiculatus

Left: Example of vines girdling itself

Center: The annual task of controlling the spread with clearing, lopping and pulling vines

Right: Roots and bark used medicinally

Ecologically, bittersweet is both beneficial and harmful, a resource and a problem. Birds feed on it and nest in it. (Photo, right) Pollinator bees visit its flowers. People admire its beauty. Native Americans historically used its bark and roots medicinally. In India, oil pressed from the seeds of a related species (Celastrus paniculatus) is used to increase memory and facilitate learning. Traditional Chinese medicine historically used it to treat many diseases and ailments.

Why is it called bittersweet? Its English name might have come from European colonists in North America who confused the American native with a European nightshade (solanum dulcamara) they called bittersweet back home. Other common English names are climbing orange-root, fever-twig, staff-vine, and jacob’s ladder. 

And “Oriental”? Celastrus orbiculatus is native to Japan, Korea, and China. It was cultivated in Europe beginning in 1860 and introduced to the United States as an ornamental garden plant in 1887. The term “Oriental” is a cultural invention from the days when Europe was considered to be the center of the world, east of which was the “orient.” Now considered prejudicial, the term is banned from use in United States federal and some state publications.

References:

• Alma R. Hutchens, Indian Herbology of North America, Garden City Press, London. 1973
• Peter Del Tredici, “Untangling the Twisted Tale of Oriental Bittersweet,” Arnold Arboretum
• “Potentially Problematic Names in North American Gardens,” Plant Nomenclature & Taxonomy Community of the American Public Gardens Association
• United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA NRCS) Plant Guide “American Bittersweet”
• United States Geographical Survey (USGS) “American and Oriental Bittersweet Identification”

ChicoryLane is an ecological reserve near Spring Mills, protected by a Conservation Easement held by Clearwater Conservancy. It is 68 acres of very diverse lands that we are actively enhancing ecologically. We hold outdoor events throughout the year.

The landscape is natural, but scenic. It includes wetlands and meadows, several streams, remnant and successional forests, and a grassland. This diversity of habitats is especially inviting to birds and butterflies. A system of mowed trails makes most of it accessible to walkers.

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