Invasive SpeciesOriental bittersweet

Celastrus orbiculatus
FOUND by BurgandyCows
2010-08-24
East Waterboro
ID Questioned
Quality checked by Alyssa W.
Peer reviewed by
Field Notes
A sketch of our study site.
Time:12:46 Weather: Overcast Purpose: Searching and finding evidence of invasive species. In feeling: Helen: Good feelings all around. With some bad luck. Idk. Alyssa: I am happy for reasons I can not say. I had a happy morning today because I started a new book. Ethan: I am happy because Mikeys not here. We found a frog and maybe purple looestrife. We are feeling happy because of the dance yet depressed because Helen's cat died. Some people stole our flags and post and left our group a skateboard and a pink bike. Today we might have found oriental bittersweet. You can see by our sketch the leaf to the plant we might think is oriental bittersweet. Later, we found that the leaves may differ from Oriental/Asian bittersweets.
Supporting Evidence
Photo of my evidence.
Our plant grows like a vine with a purple stem with green at the bottom since it is young. It has toothed, jagged leaves, with a long, pointed tip.
Photo of my evidence.
Beside our plant, we found red berries that had fallen to the ground. These berries were similar to those of Oriental Bittersweet.
Photo of my evidence.
There are thorns on the stem of the vine. They come in a simple 3-4 leaf compound pinnate.
Species Observation: Species Looked For
Did you find it?: 
I think I found it
Scientific name:
Celastrus orbiculatus
Common name:
Oriental bittersweet
Sampling method: 
Quadrat (user-placement)
Photo of our sampling method.
Place Studied
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Map this species
Latitude: 
N 43.575200 °
Longitude: 
W -70.705300 °
Observation Site Information
A photo of our study site.
Name:
BurgandyCows's visit to East Waterboro Pond Edge
Habitat: 
Upland - Forest
Trip Information
Name:
East Waterboro Pond Edge
Trip date: 
Tue, 2010-08-24 10:02
Town or city: 
East Waterboro
Type of investigation: 
Species Survey
Ecosystem: 
Freshwater
Watershed: 
Saco
Sampling Method: 
Nearest waterbody: 
Little Ossipee Lake
MIDAS Code: 

Comments

Your pictures are great and the sketch is awesome, I would, however, check your data again. The leaf on the picture of celastrus orciculata, or oriental bittersweet, have less spines are found on it, but I can see how they are similar. I would check your data again, but your evidence is solid. Good job.

Your evidence and images are great! You made some really solid observations. I'd suggest, however, that you check your evidence against Oriental Bittersweet one more time. Oriental bittersweet doesn't have compound leaves, so what you are looking at is definitely something else.

Your observations were spot on. Just double check what you see against what you are looking. Your last sentence in your field note says it all - listen to your own best thinking next time! Actually, your field note does indicate you might have been a bit distracted at the time of your observation... What do you all think?

Your written evidence definitely supports your claim, but the leaves, stems, and berries you show in your photos don't match up with Oriental bittersweet. Take another look at you identification card and see what you think.