This popular ornamental shrub is found in forests, forest edges, and open areas. They have small light green flowers in spring and red fruits framed by purple coverings in fall. Their simple opposite leaves turn bright red in fall. Their square, green, twigs often display corky “wings.”

(Photo by Famartin – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Burning bush/winged euonymus (Euonymus alatus) (Photo by Chris Barton/Gif absarnt – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

• They have a high germination rate and are quickly spread by birds.
• White-tailed deer prefer to eat native shrubs, allowing burning bush to spread easily through forests.
• Burning bush is rarely found in Acadia National Park but is a common landscape plant on MDI and throughout coastal Maine.

Remove any time after leaf-out in early spring.

• Seedlings – Pull out by hand
• Larger plants – Remove with weed wrench, loppers, or brush cutter. Consider treating cut stumps with herbicide according to the product label to prevent regrowth.

Dispose of plants responsibly.

• Let materials decompose in a brush pile (NOT compost) or burn them with a required burn permit.

Burning bush is likely to re-sprout. Repeat the above methods as needed to eliminate plants from your property.

Consider replacing with native shrubs with bright fall color like highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum)

Learn even more about burning bush on the maine.gov website: burning bush