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Invasive Plants - Know Them, Don't Grow Them

Here are 20 offenders of invasive plants: for a complete list visit www.newenglandwildflower.org

 
INVASIVE COMMON NAME INVASIVE BOTANICAL NAME SUBSTITUTE PLANT
Norway maple
Acer platanoides
Red maple, Sugar maple
Bishop’s weed
Aegopodium podagraria
 
Garlic mustard
Alliaria petiolata
 
Japanese barberry

Many cultivars of this invasive species have dark red foliage. Red berries in October and winter are eaten by birds, contributing to its spread. Used as a hedge or barrier. Tolerant of drought and urban conditions

Berberis thunbergii

Bayberry – Myrica pensylvanica, Virginia sweetspire (Itea vifginica, Highbush blueberry – Vaccinium corymbosum, Chokeberry – Aronia arbutifolia, Winterberry – Ilex verticillata

Oriental bittersweet
Celastrus orbiculatus
 
Swallowworts
Cynanchum nigrum and C. rossicum
 

Autumn olive – This invasive plant was originally planted for its silvery-white, fragrant flowers, drought tolerance and ability to grow under low fertility. Its abundant red fruit in September – October is eaten by birds, contributing to its undesirable spread into natural habitats.

Elaeagnus umbellata

Bayberry – Myrica pensylvanica (Morella pensylvanica), Winterberry – Ilex verticillata, Fothergilla (Fothergilla gardenia, F. major – Choke berry – Aronia arbutifolia

Burning bush
Euonymus alatus

Bayberry, Summersweet (Sweet pepper bush) – Clethra alnifolia, Highbush blueberry, Chokeberry, Fothergilla (large or small)

Glossy buckthorn
Frangula alnus
 
Yellow flag iris
Iris pseudacorus
 
Blunt – leaved privet
Ligustrum obtusifolium
 
Shrub-like honeysuckles
Lonicera morrowii, L. x bella, L. maackii, L. tatarica
 
Japanese honeysuckle
Lonicera japonica
 
Purple loosestrife
Lythrum salicaria

Beebalm – Monarda dydyma, Joe-pye weed – Eupatorium dubium – Purple coneflower – Echinacea purpurea, Swamp milkweed – Asclepias incarnata, Blue giant hyssop – Agastache foeniculum

Water-milfoils
Myriophyllum, aquaticum, M. heterophyllum, M. spicatum
 
Common reed
Phragmites australis
 
Japanese knotweed
Polygonum cuspidatum (Fallopia japonica)
 
Common buckthorn
Rhamnus cathartica
 
Multiflora rose
Rosa multiflora
 
Water chestnut
Trapa natans
 
 
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