Common buckthorn is a native of Eurasia and is naturalized from
Nova Scotia to Saskatchewan, south to Missouri and east to Virginia
(Soper and Heimburger, 1982). Common buckthorn
was introduced in North America for hedges, forestry planting
and as wildlife habitat. Common buckthorn now inhabits floodplain
and riparian forests, oak forests, woodland edges, praires, old
fields, ravines and fencerows. It can form extensive populations
and exclude native plants (Taft & Solecki,
1990).
Common buckthorn is dioecious (each plant produces only male or
female flowers). Flowers are greenish and are attached singly
on stalks or in dense clusters from the leaf axils. Common
buckthorn blooms May through June while glossy buckthorn blooms
late May through September.
Birds are believed to be the primary dispersal agent for common
buckthorn seeds (Kollmann & Pirl, 1995;
Catling & Porebsky, 1994). However, seedlings of
common buckthorn are common in its understory suggesting that
much of the seed is deposited below the mature plant. The
dense understory of common buckthorn saplings appears to contribute
to its ability to create crowd out native species.
Gill & Marks (1991) reported that
seedling emergence and survivorship in old fields was reduced
by post-dispersal seed predation and frost heaving. Seed
predation was higher under herb cover than in clearings.
The authors suggested that shrub establishment in old fields was
a "very low probability event." However, plant demographic
information (germination, seedling and sapling survival, etc.)
has not been established for the invasion of forests by common
buckthorn.
Like glossy buckthorn, common buckthorn is an alternate host to
the crown rust fungi that attack oats (Ginns,
1986)
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