Nandina domestica (Heavenly Bamboo)

Native to central and southern China, Nandina domestica, commonly called heavenly bamboo, is an evergreen shrub with upright, cane-like stems. It spreads through underground shoots and can form dense clumps. Its leaves are divided two or three times into smaller leaflets. Large, branched clusters of small white flowers with yellow anthers are followed by red berries that can persist through winter.

Introduced to the United States in the early nineteenth century, it has escaped cultivation and invades woodlands and floodplains, especially in parts of the southeastern states. Dense thickets can displace native vegetation. The leaves and berries contain cyanogenic compounds, and eating large quantities of the berries has been linked to fatal poisoning of cedar waxwings. Photographed in Bogotá, Colombia.