Mint Family Smell a piece of leaf from this plant, it has a very strong, distinctive smell. Perennial Where seen:Oak Ridge Greenways, Great Smoky Mountains NP, Big South Fork NRRA, Piney River SNA, Warrior's Path SP
Morning Glory Family This strange orange-hued vine is another unwelcome plant in the garden; it is an obligate parasite. It contains no chlorophyll, therefore it can't make its own food. It "steals" food (sugar and minerals) and water from its' green host plant by means of small "teeth" called haustoria (note them on the segment of vine on right-hand side of the picture). I like to call it the "Vampire Vine!" The only way to rid this plant from a garden is to pull up any "infected" host plants. Annual Where seen:Oak Ridge Greenways, Great Smoky Mountains, Oliver Springs, Warriors' Path SP
Pea Family Like its yellow relative, bees, rabbits, and deer love this plant. Fermented leaves of this plant can cause serious illness or death in livestock that may eat it. A chemical called "coumarin" becomes "dicoumarol," an anticoagulant, when fermented. Coumarin is the poison that is found in rat poison. When the affected rat squeezes through a small opening, capillaries and small blood vessels break and the rat bleeds to death. Biennial Where seen: Oak Ridge, widespread
