Vine · Celastraceae
American bittersweet
Celastrus scandens
American bittersweet is recorded as native to 37 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,130 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
American bittersweet at a glance
- Native in
- 1,130 counties, across 37 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- 15 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −38°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
American bittersweet is recorded as native to 37 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,130 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,130 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 7 counties
- Arkansas 10 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 1 county
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Georgia 3 counties
- Illinois 93 counties
- Indiana 81 counties
- Iowa 9 counties
- Kansas 62 counties
- Kentucky 90 counties
- Louisiana 6 counties
- Maine 12 counties
- Massachusetts 13 counties
- Michigan 49 counties
- Minnesota 59 counties
- Mississippi 9 counties
- Missouri 108 counties
- Nebraska 36 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 16 counties
- New York 39 counties
- North Carolina 9 counties
- North Dakota 23 counties
- Ohio 87 counties
- Oklahoma 13 counties
- Pennsylvania 62 counties
- Rhode Island 4 counties
- South Carolina 1 county
- South Dakota 16 counties
- Tennessee 37 counties
- Texas 4 counties
- Vermont 11 counties
- Virginia 50 counties
- West Virginia 32 counties
- Wisconsin 64 counties
- Wyoming 3 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Vine
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 15 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Thicket Forming
- Shape
- Columnar
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 30 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 5 to 7.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 18 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 110
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- White
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- Yes
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Orange
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Celastraceae
- PLANTS symbol
- CESC
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Celastrus scandens (PLANTS symbol CESC).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources