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		Invasive Species Invasive Species What's New The Threat of Invasive Species Impacts of Invasive Species What You Can Do   Backyard Invasives   Easy Ways to   Combat Invasives   Test Your   Knowledge What We Do   Science-Based   Solutions   Manage Invasions   Promote Public   Policies   Encourage Better   Business Practices Where We Work Contact Press Releases

Help Stop Invasive Species With your help we can stop the spread of invasive species around the world. Finding Non-invasive Plants Some nurseries such as Meijer now tag plants which are recommended as being non-invasive.

At first glance they may look pretty in your own backyard, but invasive plants can pose a serious environmental threat. Once used widely in gardening, landscaping and erosion control, non native plants like the five pictured here can be found in yards, along roadsides and in business lots across the country. Free from natural restraints, these alien invaders establish themselves in new areas and eventually supplant native species.

You can help! Click on each of the pictures to learn what you can do to fight invasive plants and preserve the species native to your region.

Purple Loosestrife

Also known as the "purple plague," purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) is an ornamental plant known for its purple-spiked flowers. Once limited to gardens in the Northeast, it now chokes wetlands across the country.

 

 

Kudzu 
A climbing, semi-woody perennial vine, kudzu (Pueraria montana) was widely planted to combat soil erosion. Unfortunately, it grows out of control, smothers native plants and even uproots entire trees by the sheer force of its weight.

Multiflora Rose 
Multiflora rose, also called rambler rose, is a thorny, perennial shrub with clusters of fragrant white-to-pink flowers that bloom in May or June. Small, bright red rose hips develop during the summer. It is often found on the edges of farms and along highways.




Giant salvinia 
This water fern has a horizontal stem that floats just below water and produces folded, floating leaves. It has been spread to many parts of the world for use in aquariums and garden ponds, but when small fragments are introduced to larger bodies of water, it quickly grows out of control.

Tree of Heaven
A Chinese tree also known as ailanthus (Ailanthus altissima), Chinese sumac and stinking sumac, the tree of heaven is a rapidly growing deciduous tree with pale gray bark, light brown twigs and large compound leaves. It can flourish in unfavorable conditions with little care, and was a common stock in nurseries across the country as early as the 1840s.

 

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Barry Rice/TNC (kudzu infestation); Photo © Bernd Blossey, Cornell University/Bugwood.org (purple loosestrife infestation); Meijer Nurseries (Meijer tag); Barry Rice/TNC (invasive purple loosestrife); Barry Rice/TNC (invading kudzu); John M. Randall (the invasive multiflora rose); Barry Rice/TNC (the invasive giant salvina);John M. Randall/TNC (the invasive tree of heaven) .