Burning bush Euonymus alatus

Basic info - Brought to the US around 1860 from its native range in Asia as a landscape shrub, it has escaped cultivation and now commonly grows wild in forested areas, old fields, and other disturbed areas. 

Impacts - After being planted for landscaping for decades, burning bush now establishes dense thickets and outcompetes and displaces native plants in a wide variety of habitats, from forests to coastal scrublands to prairies. Often, hundreds of seedlings can be found beneath one parent tree, forming a so-called "seed shadow." 

Identification - Burning bush is a woody medium to large deciduous shrub that can reach 20 feet tall in mature specimens, but more commonly is around 5 to 10 feet tall [4,5]. It blooms in spring with tiny greenish-red flowers that are easy to miss. Its leaves in spring and summer are oval-shaped, up to 3 inches long and 1 inch wide, with edges that are either smooth or finely serrated. 

This plant is perhaps easiest to identify from its brilliant red fall foliage, during which time it also develops small, bright red berries which are around half an inch across. 

What can you do to help? - If you've identified a burning bush, or think you might have but aren't sure, you can report your discovery on the EDDMapS (Early Detection and Distribution Mapping System) app or website, or upload an image of it to the iNaturalist app. 

If you find burning bush in the wild or in your own back yard, there are a few options for controlling it: firstly, seedlings can be pulled by hand. More established shrubs can be repeatedly cut to ground-level and/or treated with herbicides. Prescribed burning is not likely to kill mature plants. Any removed plant material should be burned or bagged and disposed of. Never compost invasive plants. Herbicide can be applied to the leaves or to the stump immediately after cutting.

In places like Illinois where burning bush is not yet regulated as an invasive species, one of the most helpful things you can do is to not plant it, and warn others about its impacts on our native ecosystems. 

Some native alternatives to burning bush include red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia), Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica), Fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica), or Highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum).