Common Buckthorn:

• Deciduous tree or shrub that can reach 25 feet tall.

• Leaves are dark green, oval and slightly toothed.

• Small yellow flowers in spring, black berries in fall.

• Crowds out native shrubs and understory plants.

• Encourages other invasives by making the soil too nitrogen-rich.

• Berries are high in carbs and low in protein, and act as a severe laxative to birds, sometimes resulting in death.

Garlic Mustard

• A flowering plant that smells like garlic when crushed.

• Heart-shaped leaves appear in year one at ground level. In the second year, stems shoot up (1-4 feet) and develop flowers and seeds.

• Clusters of tiny, white, 4-petaled flowers bloom in early spring. Seed pods are green, long and narrow, and look like stems.

• Spreads quickly through woods, outcompeting understory plants, including tree seedlings. It also limits seed germination in other species.

Lesser Celandine

• Clumpy ground cover with heart-shaped leaves and showy yellow flowers.

• Rapidly spreads by tubers underground.

• Will kill grass and perennials in beds.

• Will wipe out sensitive native plants in woodland areas

Asian Bush Honeysuckle

• Upright shrubs with arching branches 6- 15’ tall.

• Paired, tubular flowers that vary from white to deep rose.

• Each species has opposite leaves with red to orange paired berries.

• Grow so densely they shade out everything
  on the forest floor, often leaving nothing but bare soil.

• Some species release chemicals into the soil to inhibit other plant growth.

Callery or Bradford Pear

• Medium/Large deciduous tree with oval, glossy, finely toothed leaves.

• Generally 40’ tall at maturity.

• White flower clusters emerge in early-to-mid spring.

• Twigs often bear sharp thorn-like spurs up to 3” long.

• Can quickly establish dense thickets by self-seeding.

• The density and thorniness of the thickets can impact wildlife movement in invaded areas.

Tree of Heaven

• Fast growing deciduous tree reaches up to 70 feet.

• Leaves are 1-3 feet long, comprised of 11-25 narrow leaflets.

• Small, yellowish-green flowers form upright clusters, and fruits are flat, twisted, winged seeds.

• Flowers and leaves have an unpleasant, rotten peanut butter odor.

• Root shoots develop into dense thickets that can damage sewers and structures. Roots also produce chemicals that inhibit the growth of other plants.

• Is the preferred tree of the extremely destructive Spotted Lanternfly.

Norway Maple

• Large deciduous tree, up to 60 feet tall when mature, with a dense canopy.

• Has yellow fall foliage.

• Bark generally regularly grooved.

• Invades woodlands by out-competing other trees due to its shade tolerance.

• Spreads aggressively, becoming a weedy plant through self-seeding.

Burning Bush

• Woody shrub that thrives in a shady understory, but it can also grow in full or part sun.

• Typically 10-15 feet at maturity.

• Leaves are neon red in the autumn.

• Will form a dense thicket capable of outcompeting almost any native plant.

Amur Maple

• Can appear as a large shrub (<8ft) or compact tree (10-25ft).

• Fall color is yellow, red, or orange.

• Leaves have three lobes, with the middle lobe being much longer than the side lobes.

• One tree can produce more than 5,000 two-winged seeds that are widely spread, allowing it to spread aggressively.

• Displaces native shrubs and understory trees, and shades out native plants.

Spotted Lanternfly

• Folded wings are gray to brown with black spots. Open wings reveal a yellow and black abdomen and bright red hind wings with black spots.

• Feeds on more than 70 different plants.

• Lays its eggs on nearly any surface, like cars, play equipment, firewood, outdoor furniture and more.

• Sucks sap from host plants and secretes large amounts of a sugar-rich, sticky liquid. This causes a black sooty mold that can kill plants.

Emerald Ash Borer

• Bright, metallic green, 1/2 inch beetle with purple abdominal segments under its wing covers.

• Larva are white and worm-like.

• Has killed tens of millions of ash trees in IL alone by feeding on the underside of the bark and cutting off the transportation of nutrients and water to the tree.

Asian Longhorned Beetle

• Shiny black, white-spotted beetle with long antenna.

• Can attack and kill many tree species including poplar, willow, sycamore, and horse chestnut, but its favorite host are maple trees.

• The larvae feed in tunnels made in branches and trunks, eventually killing the tree.