Irish Cross

The Donegal News is reporting that the aquatic invasive plant known as African curly weed (Lagarosiphon major) has been found in yet another county in Ireland. African curly weed has been known in that country since the 1960s, but until recently there were no records for County Donegal (on the northern tip). While the discovery was made in a garden pond, it is thought that the weed is widespread and likely to enter natural habitats. Surprisingly, though this species is already known to have infested water bodies across Ireland, and in one lake has spread over more than two dozen acres, it is still available for sale as a pond plant in that country.

Bonus points to the Donegal News for using the plant's scientific name.

The Fighting Irish

Trinity College in Dublin recently debuted a very nice internet resource for invasive plant information. The Alien plants in Ireland database, which contains over 700 species, is searchable by taxonomy, location, and invasive status. You can search for species by Latin name or in English (and supposedly French, German, and Dutch too, but I could not get those to work). The entry for each plant displays its name in multiple languages along with an extensive amount of biological information including growth form, reproductive stats (pollinators, seed dimensions) and habitat types. It is obvious that a lot of effort went into making this database, and it is sure to be a useful tool both in Ireland and around the world.