Two species show up regularly in Ohio: common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) and glossy buckthorn (Frangula alnus). Both carry dark, glossy green leaves that stay on the plant later into fall than almost anything else in the woods — often the last green left standing in November. Common buckthorn has small thorn-like spurs at the branch tips and finely toothed leaf edges; glossy buckthorn has smooth-edged leaves and no thorns. Both produce small purple-black berries that give the plant its scientific name — "cathartica," a reference to their laxative effect on the wildlife that eats them.
A mature buckthorn stand can shade the forest floor so completely that native tree seedlings simply can't establish — left untreated long enough, it can stall a forest's ability to replace itself.
Creek banks and wet low ground are buckthorn's favorite terrain — the same ground a standard track loader has to avoid to keep from rutting it.
Like most of these species, cutting the stem without addressing the root crown typically triggers vigorous resprouting the following season.
Buckthorn's favorite ground — creek banks, wet low areas, forest edges — is exactly the terrain our excavator platform was built for. We work from stable ground and reach into the infested area rather than driving through it, which matters most here: buckthorn concentrates hardest in precisely the soft, wet ground that a standard mulcher has to avoid.
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