10/28/10 IT'S AN ILL WIND THAT DOESN'T DO SOME GOOD PRUNING

A WINDY, CHANGEABLE DAY
WIND: NATURES PRUNING SHEARS
BUCKTHORN LEAVES ARE STILL GREEN
JIG'SAW PUZZLE SEEDS
DON'T EAT THE BERRIES!

9:00 AM. 37 degrees, wind W, strong. The cloud cover is very changeable. There is another .3” of rain in the gage. The barometer is up, predicting clear weather.
This has been a long period of sustained high winds, which have done a good job of pruning deadwood in the woods, and felling dead trees.
The invasive common buckthorn, Rhamnus cathartica, is quite evident now in the landscape, as its leaves are still green and the clusters of blue-black berries on female plants quite obvious. Its bark is very similar to young birches and cherries, but the late and early season green leaves, berries and thorns easily set it apart. The berries look like cherries, but instead of one seed have three or more, each flattened on one side so they fit together like a jig-saw puzzle. Don’t taste the berries, for as the specific name indicates they are a strong purgative.
Early and late green leaves are a fairly good indicator of non-native, or out-of-range plants, although not definitive, as many Asiatic plants also have colorful fall leaves.