The Thorn Burdens

The Africa Science News Service is reporting about a threat to the wildlife in Kenya's nature reserves caused by the invasive Mauritius thorn (Caesalpinia decapetala). Also known as "cat's claw," this thorny leguminous shrub is poisonous to the large herbivorous mammals that roam the country's parks. It also forms thickets that block access to the good vegetation that animals like giraffes count on for sustenance. Unfortunately, according to the article, attempt at controlling the invader have so far failed.

Afrika Bombarda

The New Vision recently posted this report about a workshop on invasive plant management in Africa. Based on a project (pdf) implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme/Global Environment Facility, the meeting included participants from Ethiopia, Ghana, Uganda, and Zambia. Some of the species of concern included water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), citronella grass (Cymbopogon nardus), and lantana (Lantana camara). Organizers are hoping to promote more ecosystem-based management plans for areas impacted by these and other invasive plants, beginning with the difficult task of developing invasive plant management policies within each country.

New And Notable

Recent arrivals in the US and beyond:

• The Suriname toad (Pipa pipa) was discovered in Puerto Rico.
• The Quagga mussel (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) continues to be sighted in Southern California. Also, a Dreissena sp. was discovered in Arizona - the first record for the genus in that state.
• The Oriental weatherfish (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) has been discovered in a small pond in New Jersey.
• India has a new species of fruit fly (Bactrocera invadens), the same one that has been spreading across Africa.
• Pink meadowsweet (Spiraea alba 'rosea') has naturalized in Belgium (via the ALIENS-L listserver)

Denial Is Not a River In...oh wait...

The lawsuit that Kenyan citizens brought against their government for introducing the invasive plant they know as mathenge (Prosopis juliflora, also known as mesquite) is finally at trial, and the government is doing its best to shift the blame to someone else. The East African Standard is reporting that the Kenyan government is denying that it was behind the introduction of mathenge to the country, instead pointing a finger at the Food and Agricultural Organization. In fact the government is claiming that the citizens who sued them were aware of this and hid the facts from the judges hearing the case. Just in case this defense does not work, the government is also claiming that the citizens are not even justified in bringing the lawsuit, since mathenge is a "considerable and valuable resource for developing nations" and the town of Baringo, Kenya "has changed for the better and not for the worse with the introduction of biomass." Hmm...invasive, thorny, poisonous biomass. Baringo must have been pretty awful before the mathenge started spreading.

Interested readers will want to check out some of the other ISW posts about mathenge.

Mesquito Bites

Interesting article in The East African about mesquite (Prosopis juliflora, mathenge). While that invasive shrub certainly gets a lot of media attention for the problems it is causing in Africa, what sets this article apart is that it covers the history of the plant's introduction and spread in such countries as Senegal, South Africa and Kenya.

More melodrama than an episode of Family Law...

The ISW has featured a lot of horror stories about plants and animals, and that's to be expected, given the subject matter here. However, it is rare that a story is so awful that I actually decide to give up and go to sleep rather than try to summarize the atrocities. Here we have one of those stories, posted at allAfrica.com, about the problems caused by the intentionally introduced shrub known as mathenge (Prosopis juliflora). While this plant has been blogged in several other posts at the ISW, none of the articles has been as bad as this. To summarize:

• A woman's goats and sheep ate mathenge pods, then died of starvation after their teeth fell out.
• The same woman lost her finger and has a paralyzed hand after she injured said hand on a mathenge thorn.
• A man can no longer enjoy drinking with his friends because he is unable to make his way home from said festivities without coming into contact with the horrid mathenge plants (and, I assume, risking the loss of his digits).

(Ok, that last one is a bit weak, but it doesn't matter because anyone reading this will forever be plagued by images of toothless goats.)

Some fact-checking is in order here. The PIER program did a thorough risk assessment of mathenge (which we call "mesquite" here in North America) and they do note a study where goats were fed the pods of this species, leading to "partial anorexia, depression, salivation, twitching, dehydration and bloody diarrhoea" (how do you tell if a goat is depressed?). This article from GISP notes that wounds caused by mathenge thorns are more prone to infection, but doesn't say why. The Botanical Dermatology Database notes the wax on the thorns can cause serious eye injury, and this post over at the Bike Mojo message board provides further anecdotal evidence of poisonous thorns.

Sounds like Mr. Lekakimon was smart to cut down on his social drinking. But negative points to The Nairobi Nation for the dramatic overkill. Sheesh.

Suited Up

The Standard is reporting that a group of 700 Kenyans are suing their government over the damage caused by the invasive shrub known as mathenge (Prosopis juliflora, mesquite). The Attorney General, Minister for Environment, and National Environment Management Authority are all named in the lawsuit. AllAfrica.com also has the story, and notes that the plaintiffs claim that the government is responsible for allowing the Food and Agriculture Organization to intentionally introduce the plant back in the 1980s. As was reported by the ISW last year, a group of Kenyans sued the FAO over the mesquite invasion in May of 2005. [It's likely the same group of people involved, but I can't find any further information on the status of the first lawsuit.]

Bonus points to both news sources for using the plant's scientific name.

So Sue Me

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is being sued by a group of Kenyans in an effort to get the FAO to take responsibility for spreading the invasive Prosopis juliflora, according to this report from AllAfrica.com. Affectionately called "Devil trees," but known here in its native America as Mesquite, Prosopis was intentionally introduced to Kenya by the FAO back in the 1970s and 1980s to combat soil erosion and provide a firewood source. Now the growth of this species is out of control, and local people want the FAO to remove plants and replace them with native flora.

Thanks to a member of the Yahoo! group ma-eppc for posting about this story. Bonus points to AllAfrica.com for using the plant's scientific name.

Mesquite Mayhem

allAfrica.com has this very interesting article about the consequences of the introduction of mesquite (Prosopis juliflora) to Kenya. It seems that the National Environmental Management Authority of Kenya has called upon the FAO to answer for their intentional introduction of this noxious weed. Mesquite is often grown as a source of wood (firewood and woodcraft), to combat soil erosion, to amerliorate sites by fixing nitrogen, and even as a food source (the pods). The Community Museums of Kenya is claiming that parts of the country now suffer from low water tables, decreasing biodiversity, and even more soil erosion, all due to mesquite. Bonus points to allAfrica.com for using the plant's scientific name.

Thanks to a member of the ALIENS-L listserver for posting a link to the story.

Martha Stewart would love this

Women in Africa have found a great use for the "carpets" of Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) that are clogging waterways all over the continent: they weave the plants into pillows, furniture, and yes, carpets. According to this article posted at AllAfrica.com, women's groups in Kenya are hoping to advertise their use of the nasty South American invasive plant to encourage tourists to make purchases. In Uganda, prison inmates are trained to harvest Water hyacinth and create textiles from them.