Interesting article from the Seattle Post Intelligencer about problems in the Pacific Northwest with invasive ivy plants (Hedera spp.). I'm not saying "English ivy" (Hedera helix) anymore, because it sounds like researchers at the University of Washington have finally got proof that the majority of wild ivy vines are actually Irish ivy (Hedera hibernica), a species once considered to be a variety of its English cousin. As the article notes, this is going to make it a lot more complicated to try to regulate the spread of ivy in the wild, since the horticulture industry sells hundreds of different ivy cultivars, few of which have been closely investigated for invasiveness. The results of the study are expected to be published in early 2006 in the journal Biological Invasions.
No comments:
Post a Comment