[6] The glossy, dark green leaves grow opposite on the stem and are ovate to elliptical.

Vincetoxicum rossicum reproduces by spreading its seeds through wind dispersal and through vegetative production.

Typically this invasive species is found in dense vegetation, which allows it to rapidly grow with its multiembryonic seeds.

[7] This makes the survival rate of the pale swallowwort to be very high and in there lies the problem as to why this invasive species is problematic.

[6] Vincetoxicum rossicum can tolerate drought conditions with low soil moisture by allocating a high proportion of its resources to belowground biomass in the form of its roots.V.

[8] Vincetoxicum rossicum is native to Ukraine and southwestern European Russia and was introduced as an ornamental plant in North America, where it is considered invasive, particularly in the Great Lakes Basin.

[1] Vincetoxicum rossicum is a highly invasive plant growing in all of the Eastern United States, and commonly found in the mid west.

In Canada, the release of a moth, Hypena opulenta, which feeds exclusively on Vincetoxicum spp., was authorized in 2013.

[14] It is also a threat to some butterflies, especially the Monarch, because it interferes with the native hosts and acts as an ecological "sink".