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RE: Plants along beaches

>>
>>Oh, how I wish Hedera were outlawed in California!!!  People forget that
>>their beloved plant can be a neighbor's pest.
>>
>>Pat
>
>
>For what it's worth, the California Exotic Pest Plant Council is doing good
>work to try to educate consumers and nurserypeople about some of the stuff
>they're selling.  They have a web site
>(http://www.igc.apc.org/ceppc/index.html) if anyone is interested in
>visiting.
>
>Phil
>
I sympathise with anyone having to deal with feral exotics
I'm currently going through lists of horticultural species trying
to identify the weeds.  In most cases its pretty easy but when 
you come across a plant that is not in Western Australia and has no
weedy 
history, and the genus isn't even here, it becomes harder.
So far I have a list of 1600 undesirable weeds (for Aust) and another 
longer list of some 3500 species (includes those already in Aust).
You wouldn't appreciate how many common garden species are prone to
going feral.
Something like 60+% of all the major weeds in Australia had a
horticultural introduction.
Someone will probably tell me its more like 80% but we can only
guesstimate as a lot of these introductions occured pre 1900 and with
the blessing of Acclimitisation Societies :-(
With the generally largish lag time between the introduction of a
species and its becoming noticed as a weed it can be spread far and wide
before its potential is noticed.
Even when a species was noticed as a weed, with the non existant weed
control techniques of the day, they just noted it, and left it to its
own devices. Even the most willing landowner couldn't be expected to
control, let alone eradicate a weed, with just a plough or dutch hoe.
So we are left with the legacy of well intentioned, but rather ignorant,
people who wanted to bring a bit of home with them to the new country.
I could go on about rabbits... but I stopped working with them years ago
:-)

Cheers
Rod Randall
Weed Risk Assessment
Weed Science Group
Agriculture Western Australia
rprandall@sp.agric.wa.gov.au

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