Celastrus orbiculatus

Celastrus orbiculatus is a deciduous woody vine. The branches are round, usually with noticeable lenticels. The outer surface of its roots are characteristically bright orange. Leaves are glabrous, alternate in arrangement and extremely variable in size and shape, from broadly oblong-obovate to suborbicular, 2 -12 cm long and 1.5 to 8 cm wide. Flowers are small and greenish-yellow with 5 sepals and 5 petals.

This species can be reliably distinguished from the native Celastrus scandens only by the location of female flowers and fruit. In C. orbiculatus they are borne in clusters of 3 - 7 in the axils of leaves. Celastrus orbiculatus fruit are never arranged in terminal clusters. In contrast the flowers and fruit of C. scandens are borne in terminal panicles which may contain numerous flowers or fruits. A second, less reliable, difference is the yellow color of the outer fruit covering in C. orbiculatus vs. the orange color of C. scandens outer fruit cover. The color of the inner aril is red in both species. Identification by leaf shape or size, or by male inflorescence type is not reliable. Illustrations showing the differences between the two species can be found in Gleason (1952) and McNab and Meeker (1987).

The primary taxonomic reference for this section is Hou (1955).

Celastrus orbiculatus habitat on its native continent of Asia is said to be lowland slopes or thickets at altitudes from 100 to 1,400 m. The vine is widely distributed in northern and central Japan and Korea. In China it is found primarily in provinces north of the Yangtze River (Hou 1955).

Its North American habitat preferences are wide but seem to be exclusively terrestrial. It is variously described as occupying open woods and thickets (Gleason and Cronquist 1991), roadsides, fence-rows, and thickets (Fernald 1970), alluvial woods, roadsides and thickets (Radford et al. 1968).

Flowers bloom in late May to early June in Connecticut. Fruit ripens in September and remains on the vine through much of the winter. Brizicky (1964) notes that hymenopterous insects, especially bees, are its main pollinators, but Wyman (1950) also found wind pollination to be effective. Wyman also states C. orbiculatus and C. scandens can pollinate each other, and White and Bowden (1947) created a fertile hybrid through a controlled breeding program. No naturally occurring hybrid plants have been reported in the literature. However, Dreyer et al., (1987) reported two distinct sizes of pollen grains on certain individuals, tentatively identified as C. orbiculatus, growing in close proximity to C. scandens. They speculated that these plants may be hybrids.

Fruit dispersal is generally thought to be by birds and small mammals. In an unpublished undergraduate study in Connecticut, removal of fruit from seven species of woody plants by birds was observed during fall and winter (Wheeler 1987). C. orbiculatus was considered an important winter food, and was comparable in lipid and sugar content to the fruit of other species, but was not taken at all by animals in the fall. Black-capped Chickadees, Northern Mockingbirds, European Starlings and Blue Jays all fed on C. orbiculatus during the winter months.

Humans are also important dispersal agents. Fruiting stems are collected for dried flower arrangements, and are soon disposed of on compost and brush piles. The vine is highly attractive, easy to grow and propagate, and available at many nurseries, where it is often mislabeled as C. scandens. It was, and still may be, planted extensively in highway landscaping and for "conservation" plantings for wildlife food and cover, and erosion control, both as itself or mistakenly for C. scandens.

Seed germination is generally high in C. orbiculatus, particularly when compared to C. scandens. Patterson (1974) conducted a wide variety of germination tests with seed from 4 eastern U.S. states and found between 30 and 95% germination. He also noted that the highest germination rates occurred at low light intensities. Dreyer et al. (1987) confirmed the ability to germinate at low light levels and reported germination from 59 to 82%. Also in Connecticut, Clement et al. (1991) found C. orbiculatus produced 4.2 viable seeds per fruit compared to 3.2 in C. scandens. Mean germination rates for C. orbiculatus were 70% compared to 20 % for C. scandens.

In field experiments Clement et al. (1991) found that C. orbiculatus photosynthetic rates increased with increasing light intensity. In contrast, C. scandens photosynthetic rates at the same sites, tended to reach a plateau beyond which additional light had no significant effect. The ability of C. orbiculatus to acclimate to a variety of irradiance levels may be one of the factors which has allowed it to spread rapidly.

C. orbiculatus rootsuckers prolifically, especially after the main vine is damaged or cut. Rootsuckering is a common occurrence and results in large clones or patches which often spread from one or a few original plants which originated as seedlings.

Patterson (1974) noted the scarcity of other plants under dense canopies of C. orbiculatus, but could not attribute this to soil moisture, soil nutrients, precipitation interception or temperature changes. However, shading by the C. orbiculatus canopy was considered a potentially significant factor.