How to Identify Bittersweet Vine

By eHow Home & Garden Editor

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Bittersweet Vine is used in the home for decorative purposes, as a craft for art projects, as protection from erosion and as food for certain types of birds and wildlife. American Bittersweet is the most common form of this pretty and fast-growing vine. Follow these tips to easily identify Bittersweet.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Step1

Keep an eye out for a shrub-heavy vine with smooth and thin green leaves that are pointed at the top. The leaves are no more than five inches long and three inches wide.

Step2

Search for tiny white-green flowers budding from Bittersweet Vine in early summer. The flower buds will almost always be in cluster groups.

Step3

Locate berries hanging from the Bittersweet Vine that are round and yellow-orange in color. If you look for Bittersweet Vine in the fall, you will notice the seed pods have left the berries and are dark red in color.

Step4

Look for Bittersweet in areas that are exposed to partial or full sun. A vine growing in shade is not American Bittersweet.

Step5

Check for yellow leaves in the fall. If a vine has all the characteristics of American Bittersweet, but the leaves are yellow, it is probably still this vine. Bittersweet leaves yellow and fall off in the autumn.

Step6

Find Bittersweet vine on patios, climbing over trellises or on gazebos.

Tips & Warnings

Bittersweet Vine is a popular decoration during Thanksgiving and throughout the fall season. Homes and businesses frequently use it in their holiday designs.
It's easy to confuse American Bittersweet with Oriental Bittersweet. You have likely encountered Oriental if you see a vine that has leaves that are rounded at the top and has sparse fruit. Oriental Bittersweet is also weedier, whereas American is more lush and woody.
Do not eat the fruit from a Bittersweet Vine. Birds count on this vine for nourishment, but humans will get sick if this berry is consumed.