Celastrus
Genus of plants
Celastrus, commonly known as staff vine, staff tree or bittersweet, is a genus of the family Celastraceae; it contains over 40 species of shrubs and vines, which have a wide distribution in East Asia, Australasia, Africa, and the Americas.
01Description
The leaves are alternate and simple, ovoid, and typically 5-20 cm (2.0-7.9 in) long. The flowers are small, white, pink or greenish, and borne in long panicles; the fruit is a three-valved berry.
In North America, they are known as bittersweet, presumably a result of confusion with the unrelated bittersweet (Solanum dulcamara) by early colonists. C. orbiculatus is a serious invasive weed in much of eastern North America.
02Species
As of June 2026, Plants of the World Online accepts the following 44 species:
- Celastrus aculeatus Merr.
- Celastrus angulatus Maxim.
- Celastrus australis Harv. & F.Muell.
- Celastrus caseariifolius Lundell
- Celastrus cuneatus (Rehder & E.H.Wilson) C.Y.Cheng & T.C.Kao
- Celastrus flagellaris Rupr.
- Celastrus franchetianus Loes.
- Celastrus gemmatus Loes.
- Celastrus glaucophyllus Rehder & E.H.Wilson
- Celastrus grenadensis Urb.
- Celastrus hindsii Benth.
- Celastrus hirsutus H.F.Comber
- Celastrus homaliifolius P.S.Hsu
- Celastrus hookeri Prain
- Celastrus hypoleucoides P.L.Chiu
- Celastrus hypoleucus (Oliv.) Warb. ex Loes.
- Celastrus kusanoi Hayata
- Celastrus lenticellatus Lundell
- Celastrus madagascariensis Loes.
- Celastrus membranifolius Prain
- Celastrus microcarpus D.Don
- Celastrus monospermoides Loes.
- Celastrus monospermus Roxb.
- Celastrus novoguineensis Merr. & L.M.Perry
- Celastrus oblanceifolius Chen H.Wang & P.C.Tsoong
- Celastrus obovatifolius X.Y.Mu & Z.X.Zhang
- Celastrus orbiculatus Thunb.
- Celastrus panamensis Lundell
- Celastrus paniculatus Willd.
- Celastrus pringlei Rose
- Celastrus punctatus Thunb.
- Celastrus richii A.Gray
- Celastrus rosthornianus Loes.
- Celastrus rugosus Rehder & E.H.Wilson
- Celastrus scandens L.
- Celastrus stephanotiifolius (Makino) Makino
- Celastrus stylosus Wall.
- Celastrus subspicatus Hook.
- Celastrus tonkinensis Pit.
- Celastrus vaniotii (H.Lév.) Rehder
- Celastrus virens (F.T.Wang & T.Tang) C.Y.Cheng & T.C.Kao
- Celastrus vulcanicola Donn.Sm.
- Celastrus yuloensis X.Y.Mu
- Celastrus zhejiangensis P.L.Chiu, G.Y.Li & Z.H.Chen
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Celastrus”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Celastrus scandens.jpg by Unknown author, Public domain
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