Plant Family: Celastraceae
Growth Form: Large shrub up to 4 meters high, and often as wide.
Leaves: Opposite, simple, elliptic, lightly toothed, long-pointed, 3 – 7 cm long, turning crimson in autumn.
Bark: Light brown and rough, the branches are green or purplish brown with prominent corky wings.
Flowers: Small, greenish yellow or cream colored, with four rounded petals, held on long stalks in the leaf axils, late May to June.
Fruits: Four-lobed capsules that are red or purple split open to reveal seeds with a bright red covering (aril), August to November.
Habitat: Planted for its brilliant red autumn color, sometimes trimmed as a hedge; spreading from cultivation to roadsides, woodland edges, thickets.
Range: This native of East Asia was introduced in the 19th century and is now naturalized over most of the eastern United States.
Key Feature: The corky wings on the branches will separate it from others in its genus.
Comments: Listed as invasive in all New England states except Vermont; cultivation and sale prohibited in Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.
