Monthly Archives: August 2012

Defeating garlic mustard

For those of you faced with small patches of garlic mustard, or if you have access to a lot of volunteer labor, a new study  illuminates the best times to pull or cut plants.  Plants pulled before any seeds begin … Continue reading

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Invasive Species Slogans

The Illinois Invasive Species Awareness Month blog brings you the third installment of catchy invasive species slogans! http://illinoisisam.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-hunt-for-invasive-species-slogans.html “Spread the word, not the weed” was one of my favorites.

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Can extra chromosomes make a plant more invasive?

In 1948 two researchers looked at polyploidy (additional sets of chromosomes) in 175 weedy species in California and found about equal numbers of diploid and polyploid weeds.  They concluded that polyploidy had little to do with weediness in general, but … Continue reading

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Uses and abuses of water hyacinth

Water hyacinth, Eichornia crassipes, is known as the world’s worst aquatic weed because of its prolific growth.  It lowers biodiversity in tropical waterways, shelters pests like mosquitos, and causes eutrophication.  But all that biomass could have its uses.  Patel summarizes … Continue reading

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