ID Native or Invasive

[Nyboy]

I have some bushes that I don't know what they are. Most of the time they are nondescript, till fall when they lose their leafs. The branches are covered in red berries. they are in deep shade ,some growing in standing water. I have also seen them growing on the side of the highway. Zone 6 about 2 hours north of NYC. I do have a photo I can email someone. I do have cranberries that I planted and these are not them.

 

[catjac1975]

I have wild native plants that now have red berries. I call them bird berries. I'm sure they have a name but I do not know it.

 

[so lucky]

Are the berries about the size of a BB, and grow in small clusters of 3 or 4 along the main skinny stems? Branches grow in kind of arching manner? Bushes about knee or thigh high, with no leaves on them when the berries are apparent? I have them, too, and have often wondered what they are. Maybe some kind of wild viburnum?

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Funny. My first thought was some type of hawthorn. When I read that some were growing in standing water I thought cranberries, but then you said they weren't cranberries. Would you mind sending me a picture if I pm-ed you my email address? I have a whole bookshelf of books and plenty of time to flip through them all. I really need to brush up on this stuff anyway, it's been forever and I'm starting to forget a lot of what I've read.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Nyboy, I think that you have a species of Dogwood? there. Let me keep looking though. Also get somebody else's opinion on what this is - I think that Marshall may be a good candidate. Even though he's in the western U.S., he seems to know his stuff. I'm sure there may be others that may know what this is.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Are the berries about the size of a BB, and grow in small clusters of 3 or 4 along the main skinny stems? Branches grow in kind of arching manner? Bushes about knee or thigh high, with no leaves on them when the berries are apparent? I have them, too, and have often wondered what they are. Maybe some kind of wild viburnum?

From the picture that nyboy sent me - the branches are not arching, there are more berries than four in some clusters, the berries appear larger than a BB (hard to tell from a picture), there are no leaves when the berries are apparent. Viburnum may be a possibility, never seen one in real life, but I read that they like growing in wetter conditions.

 

[so lucky]

You know, I've been tramping around in the woods for half a century, and I see these things in the fall everywhere. But I have never noticed them when in leaf. They just disappear into the rest of the understory/hedgerow. I need to go tie a ribbon on one of them now, so I will be able to identify it in the summer.

 

[thistlebloom]

Nyboy, google " Winterberry holly image" ( ilex verticillata ) , it's native, has red berries, is deciduous, and likes moisture.

Maybe also red chokeberry ( aronia arbutifolia ), but I have a feeling the winterberry will be the one.

 

[journey11]

Autumn olive has berry clusters like that, but I don't know how wet they will tolerate...

 

[897tgigvib]

I think Thistle nailed it.

Coralberry.

If it had thorns and had purplish berries I might've guessed buffaloberries. But I was thinking currant.