NOTES FROM THE WORLD OF LIVING THINGS

摘要

Is it a tall, handsome reed with a dashing plume or a rampaging alien pest? Is the introduced European form of Phragmites australis a foreigner we can live with or the botanical equivalent of the Zebra mussel? The rude good health and alarming spread of the alien Phragmites have become flash points for the already heated argument over native versus introduced plants. In the past ioo years, the European genotype has spread from a few small populations to swaths covering thousands of acres of North American wetlands. It's one of the major targets of state and federal invasive plant control, with millions spent per year on the difficult task of stopping its spread. Even if all the stems and seed heads are removed, a tiny piece of rhizome can break off, float across a lake or downriver, and start a new patch.