Invasive Plant Introduction History

THE NON-NATIVE AQUATIC PLANT INVADERS

1500s Water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) introduction is linked with early Spanish shipping commerce between Florida and South America (late 1500s).

1880s Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) arrived from South America as a pond ornamental in the 1880s at a farm grove near the banks of the St. Johns River. Paragrass (Urochloa mutica) was introduced from Africa in the late 1800s as a forage grass.

1910 Wild Taro (Colocasia esculenta), a native of tropical Asia, was introduced into Florida by the USDA as food crop in 1910.

1920s Torpedograss (Panicum repens), a native grass of Europe, was extensively planted as forage grass during the 1920s in cattle pastures. It was later determined that this species was not good cattle feed. Catclaw mimosa (Mimosa pigra), a native of Central and South America, may have been introduced as a botanical curiosity because its leaves fold on touch. There is some evidence that it was introduced as early as 1926.

1940s Hygrophila (Hygrophila polysperma) was brought into Florida in the mid-1940s by the aquarium trade.

1950s Hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata) was first introduced into a Tampa canal to be cultivated as a potential aquarium plant in the early 1950s (1950 or 1951). It is a native of Southeast Asia.

1960s West Indian marsh grass (Hymenacne amplexicaulis) was first noted in botanical works for Florida in 1968 and may have been introduced by migratory birds. It is a native of Central and South America.

1970s Water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) was likely introduced into Florida during the 1970s as an oriental food crop. It is a native of Southeast Asia. Aquatic nightshade (Solanum tampicense), a native of Mexico and the West Indies, is an apparent recent introduction (~1970s) into Florida either through accidental or bird seed dispersal. A native to South America, Giant salvinia (Salvinia molesta) has been found in aquarium plant nurseries during the past 20 years and recently in a few isolated South Florida waterways.

THE NON-NATIVE UPLAND PLANT INVADERS

1700s A native of China, Chinese tallow (Sapium sebiferum) was introduced into the United States as a landscape ornamental by Benjamin Franklin in the 1700s.

1840s Although the South American Brazilian pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius) shrub was present in Florida as early as the 1840s, it was reintroduced into the state in 1898 by a celebrated plant explorer. It was sold widely as a landscape ornamental beginning in the 1920s.

1890s Australian pine trees (Casuarina spp.) were introduced into Florida as landscape windbreaks and ornamentals during the 1890s in the Miami and Palm Beach areas and escaping into natural areas by the early 1900s.

1897 Skunk vine (Paederia foetida) was imported from Asia by the USDA as a potential fiber plant before 1897.

1900 Australian melaleuca (Melaleuca quinquenervia) was first introduced as a forestry crop around 1900 and later was spread throughout south Florida as a landscape ornamental. Coral ardisia (Ardisia crenata), a native of Japan to northern India, was introduced as a landscape ornamental around 1900.

1905 Air potato (Dioscorea bulbifera) was apparently introduced from Asia in 1905 by the USDA for agricultural purposes.

1911 A perennial from Southeast Asia, Cogon grass (Imperata cylindrica) was an accidental introduction near Mobile, Alabama, in 1911.

1950s Old World climbing fern (Lygodium microphyllum) was first reported in Florida during the 1950s in Martin County. It's means of introduction into Florida is unknown. It is native to Africa and Southeast Asia. Lather leaf (Colubrina asiatica) is thought to have been introduced into the Caribbean by East Asian immigrants for use as medicine, food, fish poison, and soap substitute. It is a native of the Old World.