Staff vine

Taxobox
name = Staff vine

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image_width = 270px
image_caption = "Celastrus scandens"
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo = Celastrales
familia = Celastraceae
genus = "Celastrus"
genus_authority = L.
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = About 30, including: "Celastrus angulatus" - Chinese Staff Vine "Celastrus australis" - Australian Staff Vine "Celastrus dispermus" - Orange Boxwood "Celastrus paniculatus" - Peng
"Celastrus pyracanthus" - South African Staff Vine "Celastrus orbiculatus" - Oriental Staff Vine "Celastrus scandens" - American Staff Vine

The staff vines, also known as staff trees or bittersweet, genus "Celastrus", comprise about 30 species of shrubs and vines. They have a wide distribution in eastern Asia, Australasia, Africa and the Americas.

The leaves are alternate and simple ovoid, typically 5-20 cm long. The flowers are small, white, pink or greenish, and borne in long panicles; the fruit is a red three-valved berry. The fruit are eaten by frugivorous birds, which disperse the seeds in their droppings. All parts of the plants are poisonous to humans if eaten.

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.