Minnesota Tree Care Advisors

Characteristics
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Common Buckthorn is on the Minnesota Department of Agricultures "Restricted Noxious Weeds" List.

Common buckthorn was introduced to North America as a landscape specimen, particularly for creating hedges. Unfortunately, the species was able to naturalize (escape to the wild) and has become very well established.

Shrub or Small Tree:		Height up to 20-25' with stems occasionally exceeding 10 inches.

Canopy spreads:		Crowns tend to be spreading.

Alternate to occasional sub-opposite branching (often described as opposite). The light gray bark has lenticels present. The twigs often end with a thorn. Foliage arrives early in the spring and persists well beyond the time that most native species have shed their leaves. The leaves are dark glossy green in summer and remain green well into autumn. The leaves are simple, ovate to elliptical with a serrulate margin with 3-5 pairs of arcuate veins. Buckthorn is dioecious (male and female plants) and the flowers are 4-petaled, yellowish green and rather small. The fruit is a black drupe (berry) that is about a 1/4 inch in diameter.

Common Buckthorn is no longer commercially available due to its invasiveness.

Did you know
Studies have shown that each berry on a buckthorn carries 3-4 viable seeds! The pictures to the right show that the plants are prolific fruit producers.

Buckthorn Information (view buckthorn website)

Identification and Control (view identification website)

Alien Plant Working Group (view alien plant website)