northeast-flora-and-fauna

Here's another invasive plant species, the Japanese Honeysuckle . And it's engaged in invasive-on-invasive violence, beginning its classic climb-and-strangle strategy on yesterday's invasive plant, the Japanese Angelica Tree . My impression is that all those prickles on the Japanese Angelica Tree won't save it; the Japanese Honeysuckle will presumably maneuver between them as it climbs. I'm not sure what happens to mature trees when Japanese Honeysuckle moves in. I'm sure they'll climb the trees and that it's foliage will compete with the tree's foliage for sunlight. I know that Japanese Honeysuckle will kill young trees as they wind themselves tightly around the trunk, so I suspect it'll also damage newer tree branches even if thick bark protects the main trunk from the Japanese Honeysuckle. If there's nothing to climb, Japanese Honeysuckle will form thick clusters that catch almost all the sunlight, making it very difficult for any other pl...

Here's an invasive species that you'll sometimes see dominating an area, a Japanese Angelica Tree aka Chinese Angelica Tree aka Korean Angelica Tree. (Maybe it would be better to call them Asian Angelica Trees when they span countries like this ... but I'm not authorized to improve the naming convention.) This small tree is obviously crowding out some native plants. Near the Hawk Watch area of Washington Valley Park there's a patch of them where it looks like they're the only things growing there, so I don't dispute the "invasive species" tag they've acquired. Having said that, they are supposed to be very similar to and closely related to a species that's native to southern NJ, western Pennsylvania, and much of the southeastern US, the Devil's Walking Stick  aka Angelica Tree (video here ). AFAIK the Devil's Walking Stick doesn't take over an ecosystem the way Japanese Angelica Trees do, though it's unclear what prevents that ...