Pale Swallowwort
(Cynanchum rossicum)



Photographs: 68 photographs available, of which 13 are featured on this page. SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTOGRAPHS.

Other common names: Dog Strangling Vine, Russian Swallowwort

Other scientific names: Cynanchum medium, Vincetoxicum medium, Vincetoxicum rossicum

Family: Milkweed Family (Asclepiadaceae)

Distinctive features: Opposite leaves on a vine, milkweed-like seed pods and seeds

Similar species:
  •   Black Swallowwort (Cynanchum nigrum)

  •   White Swallowwort (Cynanchum vincetoxicum)



Flowers: Summer;  Green/Brown;  5 parts (petals);  5-petals, purple/brown, petals smooth, 1/4" wide, late spring & summer.

Leaves: Opposite pairs, sometimes in a whorl, egg-shaped

Height: Vine, 2-6 feet long

Stem: Vine

Fruit/Seeds: In a pod closely resembling those of milkweed. but smaller

Habitat: Open areas, forest edges

Native/Non-native: Non-Native

Status: Common

Notes: Swallowworts are highly invasive alien plants, that will aggressively take over an area once they get a chance. Pull them up before they get a foothold.

See Also:
  •   Swallow-wort: Monarch Menace, from The Monday Garden, by Sue Sweeney
  

This is a dangerously invasive plant. It grows fast, spreads rapidly, and climbs all over other vegetation, overcoming it.

This plant is a vine, and it climbs by twisting around other plants, including itself.

The purple/brown flowers. Five petals, only about 1/4" across.

The shiny egg-shaped leaves and seed pods forming.

Leaves, in pairs along the stem.

Seed pods opening up to disperse the seeds, which are attached to fluffy parasols which allow them to be carried great distances.

Colony of Pale Swallowwort in the winter.
  

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