Hand pulling the plant only works if you dig up the root as well.But as with all invasive species, the sooner you start eradicating it, the better.” Some of the ways to eradicate it are: “An individual plant probably produces several thousand seeds a year so they can spread quickly. These are wind dispersed seeds that can travel a couple hundred yards,” Hobbs said. Once you have correctly identified the plant, the eradication process must start sooner rather than later to prevent spreading. posting a photo to Facebook groups such as “Indiana Native Plant Society” or “Nature in the Upper Wabash.”.emailing a picture to or using a plant app such as iNatrualist, or.The first step is to properly identify it as pale swallow-wort by: being abandoned due to the severity of the infestation.īut there are steps to take before the pale swallow-wort overtakes the surrounding area. In New York, where the plant has its greatest density of occurrence, there has been reference of pastures, orchards, etc.It is currently considered one of the worse invasive plant species in the Canadian province of Ontario and in parts of New England.The entire plant, especially the root, is toxic to mammals, including humans, if it is ingested.While it is not a vine, the top of the plant will act as a vine, wrapping around shrubs and each other making a tangled mess so thick you cannot walk through it. If it is not treated and eventually eradicated, large colonies will form an intertwining mat four feet tall making it difficult to walk through.However, their larvae cannot survive on swallow-wort and quickly die.
Monarchs lay their eggs on the plant, since they have a hard time distinguishing it from their preferred host plant, most commonly milkweed. Several studies have shown that swallow-wort can negatively impact the monarch butterfly populations.And that seems to be the case for this,” Stebing said. “Some invasives aren’t as aggressive or damaging to local woods, but certain ones will take over, filling up the ground, not leaving room for anything else to grow. This means the pale swallow-wort will crowd out native species and degrade the natural habitat. It is an invasive species, which means it is not native to the area, and can form thick monocultures along roadsides and hedges, and in old fields and forests.The main concerns with pale swallow-wort are: “There are always multiple critters that use plants for food and shelter and the invasives tend to, since they haven’t developed in that area, cause detrimental effects on wildlife and pollinators.” “Generally, it has a negative effect on diversity,” Stebing said.
Stebing and Hobbs urge the community to keep a look out for other cases as it causes concerns for other plant and animal life. The eradication process has started on the campus property, but there has been one iNaturalist identification across the road, meaning the plant is starting to spread off campus property. “I took a vine, and literally ran home with the vine so she could figure out exactly what it is.”Īfter identifying it as pale swallow-wort, Stebing sent photos to Colin Hobbs, biology professor at Huntington University, and others to figure out next steps. I’ve run through there so many times, but I’ve never seen it when its blooming, so it caught my eye,” Stebing said. “As I’m running, I’m always looking at plants and zeroing in on what they are. Stebing is a biology student at Purdue Fort Wayne who is local to the area. The invasive plant was found by Joanna Stebing as she was running on the city bike trail between Gragg St. It is also called ‘dog strangling vine’ but as it refers to multiple species in that genus, it is not a precise identification.Ĭurrently, the area around Huntington’s campus remains the only confirmed site in Indiana where pale swallow-wort occurs. Pale swallow-wort’s Latin name, vincetoxicum rossicum, translates as ‘conqueror of poison’ as some species were used in traditional medicine to treat snake bites and various other ailments. Pale swallow-wort, or vincetoxicum rossicum, is native to Eastern Europe, near the Black Sea. Pale swallow-wort, an invasive plant species, was recently found in Huntington University’s campus woods making it the only confirmed population in Indiana.
0 kommentar(er)
