Invasive Plants

Non-native, invasive plants are sometimes the exotic ornamental plants that homeowners and landscapers put in flower beds, yards, and along roadsides. While others are referred to as noxious weeds. Though exotics sometimes look pretty, if they are invasive when they escape into the wild, they can pose serious environmental threats.

What is an Invasive Plant Species?

An “invasive species” is defined as a species that is

  1. Non-native (or alien) to the ecosystem under consideration; and,
  2. Whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.

Invasive Plant Lists:

USDA Forest Service
site with loads of native plant information and list of alternatives to invasive species.

Virginia Department of Conservation & Recreation
offers a great site about invasive plants of Virginia and includes list of alien invasives.

National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
provides on-line and Adobe Acrobat printable versions of their Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas publication.

Virginia Native Plant Society
provides lists, links and information about invasive plants.

Weeds Gone Wild: Alien Plant Invaders of Natural Areas
site offers information, lists, publications and articles about alien invasive plants.