Invading plants are still sold as garden ornaments, research shows

According to a new study by ecologists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, 1,330 nurseries, garden centers and online retailers are still offering hundreds of invasive species as ornamental plants. This includes 20 species that are illegal to grow or sell nationwide.

The study was published in “For Sale Invaders – Continuing Expansion of Invasion Species of Plant Trade Industry.” Boundaries in ecology and environment, Shows that existing regulatory and ethical guidelines do not serve to restrict the widespread promotion of invasive plants and that more than 60% of the 1,285 plants identified as invasive remain for sale.

“Once we realize that an ornamental plant can be invading, we hope that the sale of that species will stop,” said Umas, a graduate student in organic and evolutionary biology. However, our findings show that the current framework is not working to eliminate invasive plants from the plant trade. States generally do a good job of restricting the sale of their own controlled plants, but we find a major imbalance within the boundaries of government. All the states had at least one of their controlled plants sold in neighboring states.

“We have known for decades that many gardens and orchards are invasive, but we have done little to stop them from spreading,” said Uthman Senior Professor of Environmental Protection and Professor Bethany Bradley. We can do better. ”

Bouri and his co-authors suggest that state regulation, access to producers and consumers, is needed to reduce the so-called invasive plants in the United States. Some drugs include clear information for farmers to support coordination in laws, efforts to reduce coordination and proliferation of invasive plants at the state and national levels.

In addition to the Federal Weed Act, which identifies 105 plants as a major threat to the United States’ natural resources, most states have control plans designed to reduce the proliferation of invasive plants. Other non-native plants are managed by state and federal agencies or environmental agencies.

Berurie and his colleagues stated: “The most worrying thing is the congorasras (Imperial cylinder) offered by 33 vendors in 17 states. It has been called “the most invasive plant in the world.”

“This is a difficult issue,” said Beuri, as herbalists sell nude grains. But research shows that these plants are not completely barren and can still be invasive.

For this study, the researchers used standard searches in Google and a catalog catalog to identify invasive plants for sale in the United States. The location and distribution of suppliers and sellers in the lower 48 states, and which sales are registered even when prohibited by federal and / or state laws.

The authors estimate that 61% of the 1,285 endangered plant species in the United States are in the plant trade with vendors in 48 states of all ages, including 50% of government-controlled species and 20% of federal weeds. . These vendors include large online marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon where users can easily send invasive plants across the state’s borders, possibly without results. While inconsistent state regulations have certainly contributed to the proliferation of invasive plants in the United States, we as a people do not know which plants are invasive and how they spread to new areas.

Despite obstacles to implementation, Biuri said, “We have heard from state inspectors who have used our results to track down farmers who sell invasive varieties. This is great news, and regulators if we want to continue to protect the domestic ecosystem. And administrators need more resources to do this.