Soccer Field Invasion: Autumn Olive Plant

It was originally introduced to North America in the 1830s because of its status as a nitrogen-fixing plant—meaning that it takes the nitrogen from the air and, with the help of bacteria, puts it into the soil, giving plants nutrients. Due to this, native plants in the area that survive on low nutrient soils find it harder to grow in close proximity to it. The main reason why the plant is so invasive is because of all of the berries it produces. Those berries are full of seeds, and when they fall or are ingested by wildlife, the seeds spread, creating more plants that outcompete the native species in the area. Autumn olive is so hard to get rid of because, even when you chop it down, the roots are still alive underground, so it will grow new sprouts out of the stump. While the Autumn olive is not picky about the area in which it grows, it does have some spots where you are most likely to find it. These places are normally older fields, open woods, and forest edges due to it being moderately shade-tolerant. This makes the plant a particular threat to savannas, prairies, and open woods. It can be identified by its waxy bright green leaves with silvery green undersides. In late spring, the shrub will flower in clusters which will slowly turn into berries that tend to ripen around September. The pictures that I have used below were taken from our very own campus. Autumn olives can be found in the serpentine trail by the soccer field if you ever want to check them out for yourself!