williambee
William
Joined: Aug 26, 2019 Last Active: Jun 18, 2021 iNaturalist.ca
Bibliophile. Ailurophile. Misanthrope.
I studied botany as an undergraduate before further pursuing mathematics. I am most familiar with the flora of the Great Lakes Region, and the Pacific Northwest. There is nothing nicer than reading a book with a cat on your lap.
The most definitive means to distinguish between Celastrus scandens and Celastrus orbiculatus is to observe the position of the flowers/fruits on the plant. See: Michigan Flora Online & USGS & Minnesota Department of Agriculture
Del Tredici, P. 2014. Untangling the twisted tale of oriental bittersweet. Arnoldia 71: 2 –18. Links: pdf & html
It is important to note that hybrids can sometimes occur between these two species of Celastrus. See the following paper for details:
Zaya, D. N, S. A. Leicht-Young, N. B. Pavlovic, K. A. Feldheim, & M. V. Ashley. 2015. Genetic characterization of hybridization between native and invasive bittersweet vines (Celastrus spp.). Biological Invasions 17: 2975 –2988. Link
BONAP U.S. County-Level Distributions for Celastrus spp: Link
There are about 40+ species of Celastrus worldwide, with a large number found in east Asia.
Celastrus species listed in Plants of the World Online
Celastrus in Flora of China @ efloras.org
Useful links:
Plants of the World Online
Michigan Flora Online Key for Michigan flora but useful for the Great Lakes Region
Go Botany: Native Plant Trust Key for 1,200+ common native and naturalized plants in New England (ME, NH, VT, MA, CT, RI)
The Biota of North America Program BONAP
Flora of North America
There is nothing wrong in identifying a plant to just a family or genus. Diagnostic features for a species destination are not always present.
iNaturalist's frequently used responses:
https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/responses
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-to-fix-your-observation-with-photos-of-multiple-species/15096
Stick to the invasives.
