Invasive Plants in Indiana
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Other Invasives in Indiana What Can We Do? Although many are still commonly available Avoid using non-native invasive plants in your garden; in nurseries, the following additional invasive ask your nursery for native, non-invasive alternatives. plants are currently threatening natural areas More information is available in the INPAWS brochure in Indiana. Avoid planting these and learn “Landscaping with Plants Native to Indiana” and in the to recognize and eliminate them before they book Go Native by Carolyn Harstad (Indiana University spread. Press, 1999). Scout your property for invasive species, and remove Indiana Distribution: A=All, N=North, invasives before they become a problem. For more information on how to control them see The Nature C=Central, S=South Conservancy’s web site listed below. Habitat Invaded: O=Openland, F=Forest, Alert people in your neighborhood and place of work W=Wetland about the problem with invasives and what species to watch for. FLOWERS Indiana Distribution Habitat Invaded Volunteer to help at local parks and natural areas to Canada thistle Cirsium arvense A O remove invasives. Dame’s rocket Hesperis matronalis A F,O Sericea lespedeza Lespedeza cuneata A O Sweet clover Melilotus alba, M. officinalis A O For more information on native & invasive Star of Bethlehem Ornithogalum umbellatum S,C F plants, please contact: Japanese knotweed Polygonum cuspidatum S F • Indiana Native Plant and Wildflower Society www.inpaws.org GRASSES • The Nature Conservancy Smooth brome Bromus inermis A F,O 1505 N. Delaware St, Ste 200 Tall fescue Festuca elatior A O Indianapolis, IN 46202 Japanese stilt grass Microstegium vimineum S,C F 317-951-8818 Maiden grass Miscanthus sinensis S O tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/ • IDNR Division of Nature Preserves VINES AND GROUNDCOVERS 402 W. Washington St. Rm W267 Purple winter creeper Euonymus fortunei A F Indianapolis, IN 46204 Creeping Charlie Glechoma hederacea A F,O 317-232-4052 Japanese hops Humulus japonicus S F www.in.gov/dnr/naturepr/index.html Creeping Jenny Lysimachia nummularia A F,W • Plant Conservation Alliance Kudzu Pueraria lobata S F,O www.nps.gov/plants/ • Natural Resource Conservation Service Periwinkle Vinca minor A F plant-materials.nrcs.usda.gov SHRUBS Black alder Alnus glutinosa A F Winged burning bush Euonymus alatus A F INDIANA NATIVE PLANT Bicolor lespedeza Lespedeza bicolor A F,O and Wildflower Society Common privet Ligustrum vulgare A F Multiflora rose Rosa multiflora A O Highbush cranberry Viburnum opulus v. opulus N F,W TREES Norway maple Acer platanoides N,C F Tree-of-heaven Ailanthus altissima S F Indiana Academy IDNR Division of of Science White mulberry Morus alba N O Nature Preserves Black locust Robinia pseudoacacia N,C O Siberian elm Ulmus pumila A F USDA is an equal opportunity employer & provider. July, 2003 What are Invasive Plants? Purple Loosestrife “Invasive plant” is another name for a plant which grows quickly and aggressively, displacing other plants as it spreads. Lythrum salicaria Usually, invasive plants are not native to North America. Of the roughly 2,300 plant species growing outside of cultivation in Indiana, 25% are non-native. Most non-native plants cause Japanese honeysuckle little trouble. However, a few aggressive species are responsible Lonicera japonica for degrading and destroying thousands of acres of our natural Description: Japanese honeysuckle is a woody semi-ever- plant communities in Indiana and are costing us hundreds of green vine with opposite, oval leaves. The white, fragrant thousands of dollars each year in control measures. flowers grow in pairs and turn yellow with age. The fruits Some of these invasive plants are still being sold by nurseries and are black berries, also in pairs. planted by well-meaning Hoosiers, not realizing the problems Problem: This vine climbs over vegetation in southern Indiana, they can cause. The good news is that there are many non- Mike Norris forming dense patches that can overtop young forests. invasive alternatives that can be planted instead. Read on and Description: This plant grows 3-7 feet Alternatives: Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), find out more about the problems and the solutions. tall and puts up several spikes of purple virgin’s bower (Clematis virginiana), American bittersweet flowers in June-July. The leaves are (Celastrus scandens). opposite and the stems are square. Purple Why Do We Care? loosestrife spreads aggressively by seed Invasive plants hurt wildlife by eliminating the plants our and by rhizome. Even “sterile” cultivars native animals need for food and cover. can still produce viable seed. Note - it Invasive plants destroy habitat for rare wildflowers and an- is illegal to buy, sell, or plant purple imals; they threaten two-thirds of all endangered species. loosestrife in Indiana. Invasive plants cost money. Agencies around Indiana Problem: Purple loosestrife invades wet- spend hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to lands in northern Indiana, forming pure Mike Norris eradicate these species and protect our natural areas. stands that choke out native vegetation. This eliminates food Each year the cost grows. and cover for many wildlife species, which are dependent on a diverse mixture of native species to survive. Agricultural losses and control costs due to invasive plants Alternatives: Dense blazing-star (Liatris spicata), wild are estimated at $15 billion per year in the U.S. bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), and sweet joe-pye-weed (Eupatorium The following are ten of the most damaging purpureum). of the many invasive plants in Indiana. Bush Honeysuckles Lonicera maackii, L. tatarica, L. morrowii Amur, Tartarian, Morrow honeysuckle Description: These upright shrubs with arching branches are 6-15 feet tall. Each of these species has dark green egg-shaped leaves. They stand out in the understory of forests as the first shrubs to leaf Ransburg Tom out in the spring and the last to lose leaves in the fall. The paired, tubular flowers are white on Amur and Morrow honeysuckle and pink on Tartarian honeysuckle. Berries range from red to orange and are dispersed by birds. Problem: Bush honeysuckles grow so densely they shade out everything on the forest floor, often leaving nothing but bare dirt. This means a great reduction in the food and cover available for Ellen Jacquart birds and other animals. Some species release chemicals into the soil to inhibit other plant growth, effectively poisoning the soil. Bush honeysuckles are found throughout the state, but are Ransburg Tom particularly invasive in central and northern Indiana. Alternatives: Dogwoods (Cornus racemosa, C. amomum, and C. sericea), chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa), winterberry (Ilex verticillata), and northern arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum). Tom Ransburg Tom Autumn Olive Elaeagnus Common Reed or Phragmites umbellata Phragmites australis Description: Au- Description: Common reed is a grass that reaches up to tumn olive is a fast- 15 feet in height. The leaves are smooth, stiff and wide with growing shrub or small coarse hollow stems. The big, plume-like flower head is tree reaching up to 20 grayish-purple when in fruit. Common reed spreads mostly feet tall. Its leaves are vegetatively forming huge colonies by sprouting new shoots Ellen Jacquart small and oval, dark through underground stems. green on the upper Problem: Reed Canary Common reed Grass surface and silvery Ellen Jacquart below. This shrub has grows in open Phalaris arundinacea light yellow, aromatic wetland habitats Description: This grass flowers and produces and ditches pri- grows to 2-5 feet tall. The large quantities of marily in north- hairless stems have rough small, round red fruits ern Indiana. leaf blades 3-10 inches long. that are readily eaten It can create The flowers occur in dense and spread by birds. pure, impene- clusters and are green to Problem: Often trable stands, purple, changing to beige and planted for wildlife excluding all Ellen Jacquart becoming more open as they other wetland food and cover in the Ellen Jacquart mature. The plant spreads ag- past, autumn olive can plants. Some gressively through a thick system of underground stems. quickly take over open populations are Problem: Widely planted for forage and erosion control, areas, eliminating all not invasive and this grass has taken over large areas of both open and for- other species. Such mono- may be native; ested wetlands throughout Indiana. It forms monocultures cultures actually reduce the however, there by out-competing all the native wetland plant species. There variety and amount of wildlife is no reliable may be native strains in the state; however, there is no re- food available. It is now found method to tell liable way to tell the native from the non-native strains. throughout Indiana. the two apart. Alternatives: Switch grass (Panicum virgatum), Canada Alternatives: Black haw Alternatives: Switch grass bluejoint (Calamogrostis canadensis), prairie cord grass (Viburnum prunifolium), Ransburg Tom (Spartina pectinata), Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans), dogwoods (Cornus racemosa, C. amomum, and C. sericea), (Panicum vir- and big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii). and serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea). gatum), Can- ada bluejoint (Calamogrostis canadensis), Crown Vetch prairie cord Coronilla varia grass (Spartina Description: This perennial legume has creeping stems which pectinata), form dense mounds of vegetation. Each of the compound leaves Indian grass bears fifteen to twenty-five leaflets. Pea-like pink and white flowers (Sorghastrum are produced in early summer and develop into narrow, leathery nutans), and seed pods. big bluestem Problem: Introduced to the United States for use in erosion con- (Andropogon trol, crown vetch is very widely planted along roadsides in Indiana. gerardii). Since it has a tap root rather than fibrous roots, it actually provides little erosion control. It spreads rapidly through seed and by under- ground stems, invading many of our open natural areas like prairies and savannas. Ransburg Tom Alternatives: Roundheaded bushclover (Lespedeza capitata), purple vetch (Vicia americana), goat’s-rue (Tephrosia virginiana).