{"license":"Text © Pollinate Happiness, free for educational use with attribution. Species ranges generalized from USDA PLANTS/BONAP; life-stage months typical for the Northeast.","count":37,"items":[{"slug":"tree-of-heaven","common":"Tree-of-heaven","scientific":"Ailanthus altissima","inatTaxonId":57278,"kind":"plant","status":"prohibited","why":"Grows anywhere, spreads by root suckers and huge seed crops, releases chemicals that suppress other plants, and is the preferred host of the spotted lanternfly.","identify":"Fast-growing tree with long compound leaves (up to 3 ft) with a notched gland at the base of each leaflet; crushed leaves smell like rancid peanut butter. Often mistaken for sumac or black walnut.","action":"Do not just cut it; cutting triggers dozens of root suckers. Treat cut stumps or use a basal bark herbicide in late summer, then remove. Report to iMapInvasives.","alternatives":["Black cherry (Prunus serotina)","Staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina)","Black walnut (Juglans nigra)"],"profile":{"origin":"Northern and central China and Taiwan.","arrival":"Brought to Philadelphia in 1784 by a gardener named William Hamilton as a fashionable, fast-growing shade tree, and again to California by Chinese immigrants during the Gold Rush. Nurseries sold it widely through the 1800s because it tolerated coal smoke and poor city soil, which is exactly why it now grows in every railroad cut and vacant lot in the Northeast.","impact":"It grows several feet a year, seeds by the hundreds of thousands, and sends up root suckers 50 feet from the parent. Its roots and leaves release ailanthone, a chemical that suppresses germination of other plants around it, so stands become monocultures. It is also the preferred host of the spotted lanternfly, whose populations build up on it before spreading to grapes and maples.","cost":"Suckers crack foundations, sewer lines, and pavement. Because cutting triggers dozens of new stems, removal usually requires repeated herbicide treatment over several years. Its role as a lanternfly nursery adds to the cost borne by vineyards and orchards.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Staghorn sumac (native)","tell":"Sumac leaflets are toothed along the whole edge and the twigs are fuzzy; tree-of-heaven leaflets are smooth-edged with one or two notches at the base, and crushed leaves smell like rancid peanut butter."},{"name":"Black walnut (native)","tell":"Walnut leaflets are toothed and the crushed leaves smell spicy, not foul."}],"facts":["This is the tree in the 1943 novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, chosen because it grows where nothing else will.","A single female can produce more than 300,000 winged seeds in a year.","The scientific name altissima means tallest, though it rarely tops 80 feet."],"longIsland":"Common along the Long Island Rail Road, parkway edges, and any disturbed ground in Nassau and Suffolk. Removing it from your property is the single most effective thing you can do against spotted lanternfly.","wiki":"Ailanthus_altissima"},"life_stages":[{"key":"flowering","label":"Flowering","months":[6,7],"term":12,"value":13,"look":"Large clusters of yellow-green flowers at branch tips with a strong, unpleasant smell.","action":"Mark trees now; flowers make them easy to spot from a distance."},{"key":"samaras","label":"Seed clusters","months":[8,9,10,11],"term":12,"value":14,"look":"Big drooping clusters of twisted, papery, tan-to-red samaras on female trees, persisting into winter.","action":"Treat cut stumps or use basal bark treatment now; cutting alone triggers suckers."},{"key":"winter","label":"Bare trees","months":[12,1,2,3,4,5],"look":"Smooth gray bark, very stout twigs with large heart-shaped leaf scars, and root suckers everywhere. Check trunks for spotted lanternfly egg masses.","action":"Scrape lanternfly eggs; plan removal for late summer."}],"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/tree-of-heaven"},{"slug":"japanese-knotweed","common":"Japanese knotweed","scientific":"Reynoutria japonica","inatTaxonId":914922,"kind":"plant","status":"prohibited","why":"Forms dense thickets along streams and roadsides that exclude everything else; rhizomes push through pavement and foundations and regrow from fingernail-size fragments.","identify":"Bamboo-like hollow stems with red speckles, zig-zag branching, heart-shaped leaves with a flat base, and sprays of tiny white flowers in late summer.","action":"Never mow or dig without a disposal plan; every fragment roots. Repeated cutting plus late-season herbicide over several years is the usual approach. Report it.","alternatives":["Sweet pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia)","Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)","Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis)"],"profile":{"origin":"Japan, Korea, and eastern China, where it colonizes volcanic slopes.","arrival":"Philipp von Siebold, a German physician, shipped it from Japan to his nursery in the Netherlands in the 1840s, and it won a gold medal as the most interesting new ornamental of 1847. It reached American gardens by the 1870s and was also planted to stabilize stream banks and screen railroad tracks.","impact":"Its rhizomes spread 20 feet sideways and 10 feet deep and regrow from a fragment the size of a fingernail, so every flood and every mowing plants more. Dense stands shade out everything else, and the bare soil under the canes erodes when the plants die back each winter, degrading stream banks it was meant to protect.","cost":"In the United Kingdom, knotweed on a property can block a mortgage, and the national eradication estimate runs into the billions of pounds. Here, it damages pavement and foundations and can take five years of treatment to exhaust.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Giant knotweed and Bohemian knotweed","tell":"Also invasive; giant knotweed has leaves more than a foot long with heart-shaped bases. Treat them the same way."}],"facts":["Nearly every Japanese knotweed plant in North America and Europe is a female clone of a single introduction; it spreads by fragments, not seed.","Young spring shoots are edible and taste like rhubarb, but never move cuttings; that is how it spreads.","Beekeepers value its late-summer nectar, one of the few things to be said for it."],"longIsland":"Widespread along streams and roadsides on the North Shore and in disturbed lots island-wide. Report new stands to iMapInvasives before they reach a watercourse.","wiki":"Reynoutria_japonica"},"life_stages":[{"key":"shoots","label":"Spring shoots","months":[4,5],"look":"Red-purple shoots like thick asparagus spears pushing up in clumps, growing several inches a day.","action":"Cut repeatedly to exhaust the rhizome; never dig without a disposal plan."},{"key":"summer","label":"Summer canes","months":[6,7],"look":"Hollow, bamboo-like canes 6 to 10 feet tall with red speckles, zig-zag branching, and heart-shaped leaves with a flat base.","action":"Keep cutting; bag every fragment."},{"key":"flowering","label":"Flowering","months":[8,9],"term":12,"value":13,"look":"Sprays of tiny creamy-white flowers, buzzing with bees.","action":"Late-season treatment is most effective now, before the plant pulls energy down for winter."},{"key":"dormant","label":"Dead canes","months":[10,11,12,1,2,3],"look":"Standing dead tan canes, hollow and brittle; the rhizomes underneath are very much alive.","action":"Do not move soil from the area."}],"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/japanese-knotweed"},{"slug":"mile-a-minute","common":"Mile-a-minute weed","scientific":"Persicaria perfoliata","inatTaxonId":131249,"kind":"plant","status":"prohibited","why":"An annual vine that can grow six inches a day, smothering shrubs and tree seedlings under a blanket of triangular leaves.","identify":"Perfectly triangular light-green leaves, recurved barbs along the stems, saucer-shaped leafy cups at the nodes, and metallic blue berries in late summer.","action":"Pull before it sets seed in July; wear gloves. Repeat visits for several years to exhaust the seed bank. Report new populations, which are still spreading across Long Island.","alternatives":["Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia)","Virgin's bower (Clematis virginiana)"],"profile":{"origin":"Eastern Asia from India through China and Japan.","arrival":"A contaminated shipment of holly seed from Japan brought it to a nursery in York County, Pennsylvania, around 1930. The nursery owner found the odd triangular vine interesting and let it grow. Everything in the eastern United States descends from that patch.","impact":"An annual vine that grows up to six inches a day, it blankets shrubs, tree seedlings, and young forest plantings under a solid layer of leaves, killing them by shading. It thrives in the wet, sunny edges where native shrubs would otherwise regenerate.","cost":"Foresters replanting after logging or storms lose whole plantings to it. Its barbs make hand removal painful, and it has spread through the Mid-Atlantic faster than any other recent plant invader.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Halberd-leaved tearthumb and arrow-leaved tearthumb (native)","tell":"Native tearthumbs have arrowhead-shaped leaves, not perfect equilateral triangles, and pink flower clusters rather than metallic blue berries."}],"facts":["A biological control weevil from China, released since 2004, now eats it across the Mid-Atlantic and has slowed it noticeably.","Seeds float and stay viable in water for a week, which is how it moves down streams.","Its berries look blue, but the color comes from the fleshy sepals; the true fruit inside is a black, shiny achene."],"longIsland":"Arrived on Long Island in the 2000s and is still expanding, especially in Suffolk County wetlands and utility rights-of-way. This is one where early reporting genuinely matters.","wiki":"Persicaria_perfoliata"},"life_stages":[{"key":"seedling","label":"Seedlings","months":[4,5],"look":"Small seedlings with perfectly triangular light-green leaves and reddish stems, often in dense flushes where last year's vines grew.","action":"Pull now; roots are shallow and there are no barbs yet."},{"key":"vine","label":"Climbing vines","months":[6,7,8],"term":12,"value":13,"look":"Vines growing up to 6 inches a day over shrubs and small trees, with triangular leaves, recurved barbs, and saucer-shaped leafy cups at the nodes.","action":"Pull with gloves before berries form; get the root."},{"key":"fruit","label":"Blue berries","months":[8,9,10],"term":12,"value":14,"look":"Clusters of metallic blue berries sitting in the leafy cups.","action":"Bag every berry before birds spread them. Report new populations."}],"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/mile-a-minute"},{"slug":"oriental-bittersweet","common":"Oriental bittersweet","scientific":"Celastrus orbiculatus","inatTaxonId":64540,"kind":"plant","status":"prohibited","why":"Woody vine that girdles and topples mature trees; birds spread the bright orange berries everywhere.","identify":"Round, glossy leaves with fine teeth; clusters of yellow-orange capsules along the stem (not just at the tips) that split to show red seeds in fall. Vines can be as thick as an arm.","action":"Cut vines at chest height and at the ground, treat the lower stump, and pull small plants roots and all. Never use the berries in wreaths.","alternatives":["American bittersweet (Celastrus scandens)","Trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)"],"profile":{"origin":"China, Korea, and Japan.","arrival":"Imported to the United States around 1860 as an ornamental vine prized for its orange-and-red fruit in autumn arrangements. It was sold by nurseries for a century, and the wreaths and swags made from it spread seed into every neighborhood.","impact":"The vines twine so tightly they girdle trunks, and their weight brings down trees in ice storms and wind. A single vine can shade out a tree's canopy. Birds eat the fruit and drop seed along every fence line and woodland edge. It also hybridizes with the rare native American bittersweet, swamping its genes.","cost":"Utility companies and towns spend heavily cutting it from lines and rights-of-way. Forest owners lose timber trees to girdling and breakage.","lookalikes":[{"name":"American bittersweet (native, uncommon)","tell":"American bittersweet bears its fruit only in clusters at the very tips of the branches; Oriental bittersweet has fruit strung along the stem at every leaf. Native leaves are longer and pointed."}],"facts":["New York banned its sale in 2015, but dried bittersweet still shows up in fall decorations; check before you buy.","Vines have been measured at four inches in diameter and 60 feet long.","The orange root is distinctive: if you pull a seedling and the root is bright orange, it is bittersweet."],"longIsland":"Everywhere on the North Shore, draping the woods along 25A and climbing every unmanaged hedgerow. Winter, when the orange fruit and spiraling vines are obvious, is the time to find and cut it.","wiki":"Celastrus_orbiculatus"},"life_stages":[{"key":"summer","label":"Leafy vines","months":[5,6,7,8],"look":"Twining vines with round, glossy, finely toothed leaves climbing shrubs and trees; small greenish flowers in June.","action":"Cut vines at chest and ankle height and treat the lower stump."},{"key":"fruit","label":"Orange berries","months":[9,10,11,12],"term":12,"value":14,"look":"Yellow-orange capsules along the stems splitting to show red seeds, unmistakable after leaf drop.","action":"Cut before birds eat the fruit. Never use in wreaths or arrangements."},{"key":"winter","label":"Bare vines","months":[1,2,3,4],"look":"Thick, striated vines spiraling up trunks and girdling them; remaining berries on the ground.","action":"Winter is the easiest time to find and cut the big vines."}],"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/oriental-bittersweet"},{"slug":"japanese-barberry","common":"Japanese barberry","scientific":"Berberis thunbergii","inatTaxonId":58727,"kind":"plant","status":"prohibited","why":"Forms thorny thickets in the forest understory, raises soil pH, and creates humid microclimates that harbor far more Lyme-carrying ticks than native shrubs do.","identify":"Dense, thorny shrub with small spoon-shaped leaves (green, red, or purple), single spines at each node, and bright red oblong berries that hang on through winter.","action":"Dig or pull with a weed wrench; roots are shallow. Wear thick gloves. Replace with a native shrub that offers the same fall color.","alternatives":["Winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata)","Northern bayberry (Morella pensylvanica)","Highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum)"],"profile":{"origin":"Japan.","arrival":"Seeds arrived at Boston's Arnold Arboretum in 1875, and the plant was promoted as a replacement for common barberry, which was being eradicated because it hosts wheat stem rust. Its thorns, deer resistance, and tolerance of shade made it a landscaping staple for a century.","impact":"Deer will not eat it, so it takes over the understory of browsed woodlands. Its dense, humid thickets shelter white-footed mice and the ticks that feed on them; studies in Connecticut found several times more Lyme-infected ticks in barberry stands than in native shrubs. It also raises soil pH and nitrogen, changing which plants can grow.","cost":"Beyond ecological damage, barberry infestations are a public health issue because of tick density. Removal from forests is labor intensive because of the thorns.","lookalikes":[{"name":"American barberry (native, rare in NY)","tell":"American barberry has toothed leaves and three-pronged spines; Japanese barberry leaves are smooth-edged with single spines."}],"facts":["New York prohibited sale in 2015; some nurseries still sell sterile cultivars, which are not sterile enough.","Its bright red berries hang on all winter, feeding birds junk food that spreads it further.","Cutting barberry stands back has been shown to cut tick numbers by more than half within a year."],"longIsland":"Fills the understory of North Shore estate woodlands and preserves. If you own woods with barberry, removing it is a tick-control measure as much as a conservation one.","wiki":"Berberis_thunbergii"},"life_stages":null,"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/japanese-barberry"},{"slug":"burning-bush","common":"Burning bush (winged euonymus)","scientific":"Euonymus alatus","inatTaxonId":117433,"kind":"plant","status":"regulated","why":"Still one of the most common landscape shrubs, and one of the most common invaders of Long Island woodlands, where its seedlings carpet the forest floor.","identify":"Corky wings along the twigs, opposite leaves that turn brilliant scarlet in fall, and small orange-red fruit.","action":"Remove from home landscapes and replace with a native that gives the same fall color. Seedlings pull easily.","alternatives":["Highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum)","Red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia)","Fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica)"],"profile":{"origin":"Northeastern Asia: China, Korea, and Japan.","arrival":"Introduced to the United States around 1860 for its brilliant scarlet fall color and corky winged stems. It became one of the most-planted shrubs in America, lining parking lots and foundations from coast to coast.","impact":"Birds spread the seed into woodlands, where seedlings form dense carpets that shade out native wildflowers and tree seedlings. It tolerates deep shade, so it invades intact forest, not just edges.","cost":"Still legal to sell in New York with a warning label, so new plantings keep feeding woodland invasions. Removal from preserves is ongoing work.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Eastern wahoo (native)","tell":"Wahoo lacks the corky wings on the twigs and has showy pink-and-orange fruit; its fall color is softer red."}],"facts":["The winged twigs gave it another common name, winged spindle-tree.","Highbush blueberry gives the same scarlet fall color, feeds 280 species of caterpillars, and produces fruit; burning bush feeds almost nothing.","Massachusetts and New Hampshire have banned its sale outright."],"longIsland":"Common in North Shore woodlands and along preserve edges wherever there are older suburban plantings upwind. Seedlings pull easily.","wiki":"Euonymus_alatus"},"life_stages":null,"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/burning-bush"},{"slug":"purple-loosestrife","common":"Purple loosestrife","scientific":"Lythrum salicaria","inatTaxonId":61321,"kind":"plant","status":"prohibited","why":"Takes over wetlands, replacing cattails and sedges that waterfowl and amphibians depend on. A single plant can shed two million seeds.","identify":"Tall spikes of magenta flowers in July and August on square stems with opposite, lance-shaped leaves, growing in wet soil.","action":"Pull small plants before seed set; bag flower heads. Biocontrol beetles have reduced many large stands. Report new wetland infestations.","alternatives":["Blue vervain (Verbena hastata)","New York ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis)","Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)","Dense blazing star (Liatris spicata)"],"profile":{"origin":"Europe and temperate Asia.","arrival":"Arrived in the early 1800s in ship ballast, which was dumped along the Northeast coast, and in wool and livestock bedding. Gardeners then planted it deliberately for its spikes of magenta flowers, and beekeepers spread it as a nectar plant.","impact":"A single plant makes up to two million tiny seeds a year that float, and the woody rootstock lives for decades. It converts diverse cattail and sedge marshes into loosestrife monocultures with far less food and cover for ducks, rails, turtles, and amphibians.","cost":"By the 1990s it covered hundreds of thousands of acres of North American wetland and was costing tens of millions of dollars a year in control and lost wetland function. Biological control beetles introduced from Europe have since knocked many stands back dramatically.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Blue vervain and swamp loosestrife (native)","tell":"Blue vervain has slender violet spikes and square stems but small five-petaled flowers; swamp loosestrife has arching stems and pink flowers in the leaf axils, not on a spike."},{"name":"Dense blazing star (native)","tell":"Blazing star grows in dry meadows, not marshes, and its purple spike opens from the top down."}],"facts":["Two European leaf beetles, Galerucella, released since 1992 now control it across much of New York, one of the great successes of biological control.","It was once listed in herbals as an astringent for diarrhea, hence the name.","The flowers come in three different forms with different stamen lengths, a trick to force cross-pollination that Darwin studied."],"longIsland":"Less dominant than it was thanks to beetles, but still present around freshwater ponds and marsh edges across the island. Pull isolated plants before they establish a seed bank.","wiki":"Lythrum_salicaria"},"life_stages":[{"key":"flowering","label":"Flowering","months":[7,8],"term":12,"value":13,"look":"Tall spikes of magenta flowers on square stems in wet ground.","action":"Cut and bag flower spikes before seed sets; pull small plants."},{"key":"seeding","label":"Seed spikes","months":[9,10],"term":12,"value":14,"look":"Brown spikes shedding dust-fine seed, up to two million per plant.","action":"Cut carefully into bags; do not shake."},{"key":"dormant","label":"Dormant","months":[11,12,1,2,3,4,5,6],"look":"Dead brown stems standing in marsh edges; new red-tinged shoots in May.","action":"Flag patches for July."}],"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/purple-loosestrife"},{"slug":"phragmites","common":"Common reed (non-native Phragmites)","scientific":"Phragmites australis subsp. australis","inatTaxonId":64237,"kind":"plant","status":"prohibited","why":"The tall reed that walls off Long Island's salt marshes and pond edges, crowding out native marsh plants and reducing habitat for fish and birds.","identify":"Grass up to 15 ft tall with feathery purple-to-tan plumes in late summer, forming solid stands. The native subspecies is sparser with smooth, shiny red-brown lower stems.","action":"Large stands need professional management. Do not spread rhizome fragments when moving soil. Report stands in previously clean marshes.","alternatives":["Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)","Saltmeadow cordgrass (Spartina patens)"],"profile":{"origin":"The invasive lineage comes from Europe; a native lineage of the same species has grown in North American marshes for thousands of years.","arrival":"The European genotype probably arrived in ship ballast along the Atlantic coast in the early 1800s. It spread slowly at first, then explosively in the 20th century along new roads, railroads, and ditches, and now dominates coastal marshes from Maine to Virginia.","impact":"It grows 15 feet tall in solid stands that exclude native marsh plants, fill in open water and mudflats that shorebirds and fish need, and raise the marsh surface with thatch. Its dense stands are also a wildfire hazard beside homes.","cost":"Managing it is one of the largest expenses in salt marsh restoration on Long Island's South Shore. Homeowners near marshes pay for fire-break mowing, and dead stands have fueled brush fires.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Native Phragmites (americanus)","tell":"The native has smooth, shiny, red-brown lower stems, sparser stands with other plants growing among them, and leaf sheaths that fall off in winter. The invader has dull tan ribbed stems and sheaths that stay on."}],"facts":["Genetic work in 2002 finally proved that the aggressive reed was a European invader, not a native gone wild.","It reproduces mostly by rhizomes and stolons that can grow 40 feet in a year across mud.","Ancient Egyptians used the same species for pens, and thatched roofs in England are still made from it."],"longIsland":"Dominates the edges of the Great South Bay marshes, Jamaica Bay, and most freshwater pond margins. Native Phragmites still survives in a few spots, so confirm before you treat.","wiki":"Phragmites_australis"},"life_stages":null,"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/phragmites"},{"slug":"garlic-mustard","common":"Garlic mustard","scientific":"Alliaria petiolata","inatTaxonId":56061,"kind":"plant","status":"prohibited","why":"Carpets the forest floor, poisons the soil fungi that native tree seedlings need, and tricks native white butterflies into laying eggs on it, where the caterpillars die.","identify":"First year: rosettes of kidney-shaped, scalloped leaves that smell of garlic when crushed. Second year: 1 to 3 ft stems with triangular toothed leaves and small four-petaled white flowers in April and May.","action":"Pull second-year plants before they set seed in May; the whole root comes up easily in moist soil. Bag and trash, do not compost. Repeat for five years.","alternatives":["Wild ginger (Asarum canadense)","Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia)","Golden ragwort (Packera aurea)"],"profile":{"origin":"Europe, western Asia, and northwestern Africa.","arrival":"First recorded on Long Island in 1868, brought by European settlers as a garlic-flavored potherb and a folk remedy for ulcers and gangrene. It escaped kitchen gardens and now covers forest floors from Georgia to Ontario.","impact":"Its roots exude chemicals that kill the mycorrhizal fungi native trees and wildflowers depend on, so even after you pull it the soil takes years to recover. It also fools native white butterflies, including the West Virginia white, into laying eggs on it; the caterpillars die. A single plant can drop thousands of seeds that last a decade in the soil.","cost":"One of the most labor-intensive invasives to control because seed banks demand five or more years of annual pulling. Volunteer pull days across the Northeast are largely garlic mustard days.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Violets and ground ivy","tell":"Garlic mustard rosettes smell of garlic when crushed; violets and ground ivy do not, and ground ivy has square stems."},{"name":"Toothwort (native)","tell":"Toothwort flowers are pink-tinged, and its leaves are deeply divided rather than heart-shaped and scalloped."}],"facts":["It is one of the few plants that can invade an undisturbed, closed-canopy forest.","Pulled plants can still set seed from stored energy, so bag them; do not leave piles.","It is edible and makes a decent pesto, which is the one good reason to pull a lot of it in April."],"longIsland":"In nearly every North Shore woodland and shady park. April, when it flowers and the ground is soft, is pull month.","wiki":"Alliaria_petiolata"},"life_stages":[{"key":"rosette","label":"Rosettes","months":[8,9,10,11,12,1,2,3],"look":"Low rosettes of kidney-shaped, scalloped leaves that smell of garlic when crushed. They stay green all winter, which makes them easy to spot.","action":"Pull them now while nothing else is green, or flag the patch for April."},{"key":"flowering","label":"Flowering","months":[4,5],"term":12,"value":13,"look":"Stalks 1 to 3 feet tall with triangular, toothed leaves and clusters of small white four-petaled flowers.","action":"Pull before seed sets. The whole root comes up in moist soil. Bag and trash."},{"key":"seeding","label":"Seed pods","months":[6,7],"term":12,"value":14,"look":"Long, thin, upright pods turning brown on yellowing plants; each plant holds hundreds of seeds.","action":"Cut and bag pods. Never compost. Seed lasts years in soil, so repeat for five seasons."}],"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/garlic-mustard"},{"slug":"porcelain-berry","common":"Porcelain berry","scientific":"Ampelopsis glandulosa","inatTaxonId":204237,"kind":"plant","status":"prohibited","why":"A grape relative that blankets shrubs and trees along the whole North Shore; birds spread the seeds.","identify":"Grape-like leaves, often deeply lobed, with a white pith inside the stem (grape pith is brown), and speckled berries in turquoise, purple, and pink in September.","action":"Pull seedlings, cut and treat established vines, and remove berries before birds get them. Report new spread.","alternatives":["Fox grape (Vitis labrusca)","Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia)"],"profile":{"origin":"Northeastern Asia: China, Korea, Japan, and the Russian Far East.","arrival":"Introduced around 1870 as an ornamental vine for its speckled turquoise, lilac, and pink berries, which really are beautiful. Nurseries sold it into the 1990s, and it is still found in some old estate gardens on the North Shore.","impact":"It grows 15 feet in a season and blankets shrubs and small trees along woodland edges and stream banks, shading them out. Birds relish the fruit and spread seed widely. Its heavy vines topple the shrubs that hold stream banks together.","cost":"Hard to remove because the roots are deep and it resprouts; Nassau County and North Shore land trusts run repeated volunteer efforts against it.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Fox grape and summer grape (native)","tell":"Cut a stem: grape pith is brown, porcelain berry pith is white. Grape bark shreds; porcelain berry bark does not. Grape fruit is dark purple, never speckled blue and pink."},{"name":"Virginia creeper (native)","tell":"Five leaflets per leaf; porcelain berry leaves are single, grape-like, and often deeply lobed."}],"facts":["The berries change from white to lilac to bright turquoise to purple as they ripen, all on the same cluster.","It is in the grape family and its flowers feed bees, which is part of why it went unnoticed for so long.","New York prohibited its sale in 2015."],"longIsland":"Among the worst woodland-edge invaders on the North Shore from Great Neck to Huntington, especially near old estates. Cut and treat vines before the September fruit.","wiki":"Ampelopsis_glandulosa_var._brevipedunculata"},"life_stages":null,"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/porcelain-berry"},{"slug":"kudzu","common":"Kudzu","scientific":"Pueraria montana var. lobata","inatTaxonId":62671,"kind":"plant","status":"prohibited","why":"The vine that ate the South is now established in scattered spots on Long Island and in New York City. Early detection matters.","identify":"Hairy vines with large three-part leaves, purple grape-scented flowers in late summer, and a habit of draping over everything.","action":"Report every sighting to iMapInvasives immediately. Repeated cutting and root-crown removal over years is required.","profile":{"origin":"Japan and southeastern China.","arrival":"Displayed at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition as an ornamental, then promoted from the 1930s by the Soil Conservation Service, which paid farmers to plant it for erosion control and forage. Around 85 million seedlings were distributed before the government reversed course in the 1950s.","impact":"In the South it grows a foot a day, smothering trees, power poles, and buildings under vines. Its range has been creeping north; scattered patches now survive in New York City and on Long Island, and warmer winters help it.","cost":"Estimated to cover millions of acres in the Southeast and to cost utilities and forest owners hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Every northern patch removed early is a bargain.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Hog peanut and groundnut (native vines)","tell":"Both have three-part leaves but are delicate, not hairy and rope-like, and they never climb over trees."}],"facts":["Kudzu roots can weigh 400 pounds and go 12 feet deep.","The flowers smell strongly of grape soda.","The kudzu bug, an Asian insect that eats it, arrived in Georgia in 2009 and is following it north."],"longIsland":"A handful of known patches, mostly in western Nassau and Queens. Any sighting should be reported to iMapInvasives immediately.","wiki":"Kudzu"},"life_stages":null,"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/kudzu"},{"slug":"japanese-stiltgrass","common":"Japanese stiltgrass","scientific":"Microstegium vimineum","inatTaxonId":116710,"kind":"plant","status":"prohibited","why":"An annual grass that carpets shaded woodlands and lawns, suppressing native wildflowers and tree seedlings and changing soil chemistry.","identify":"Sprawling, delicate grass 1 to 3 ft tall with pale green leaves that have a silvery stripe of hairs down the midrib. Turns tan and dies with the first frost.","action":"Pull or string-trim in late August before seed set; it is shallow-rooted. Do not mow earlier, or it reseeds low. Leave the seed bank to exhaust over several years.","alternatives":["Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica)","White wood aster (Eurybia divaricata)"],"profile":{"origin":"Japan, China, Korea, India, and Malaysia.","arrival":"First found in Tennessee in 1919. It was used as packing material for porcelain shipped from China, and dried stiltgrass spilled from crates took root wherever the china was unpacked.","impact":"An annual grass that tolerates deep shade, it carpets forest floors and suppresses tree seedlings and wildflowers. Its thatch changes soil chemistry and favors more stiltgrass. Deer avoid it, so it wins wherever deer are heavy. Each plant drops hundreds of seeds that persist several years.","cost":"It has become the dominant ground cover in many Northeastern forests, changing forest regeneration for a generation. Trail maintenance and restoration plantings both fight it constantly.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Whitegrass (native)","tell":"Whitegrass is a perennial that stays green longer and lacks the silvery stripe of hairs down the leaf midrib."},{"name":"Smartweeds","tell":"Smartweeds have swollen nodes with papery sheaths and are not grasses."}],"facts":["It is called stiltgrass because the stems prop themselves up on tiny stilt-like roots at the lower nodes.","It dies with the first frost and turns the forest floor a distinctive tan.","Mowing before seed set in late August works because it is an annual; mowing earlier makes it seed low to the ground."],"longIsland":"Spreading along trails, road edges, and shady lawns across both counties, especially where deer are dense. Pull or trim in late August, not before.","wiki":"Microstegium_vimineum"},"life_stages":[{"key":"seedling","label":"Seedlings","months":[5,6],"look":"Delicate pale green seedlings with a silvery stripe of hairs down the leaf midrib, in shady lawns, trails, and woodland edges.","action":"Pull small patches now; the roots are shallow."},{"key":"vegetative","label":"Sprawling growth","months":[7,8],"look":"Sprawling stems 1 to 3 feet, rooting at the nodes, forming lawn-like carpets in shade.","action":"Pull or string-trim close to the ground in late August, before seed."},{"key":"seeding","label":"Seed heads","months":[9,10],"term":12,"value":14,"look":"Thin seed spikes at the stem tips; plants turn purple, then tan, and die at first frost.","action":"Too late to prevent seed once heads show. Bag what you pull; plan for August next year."}],"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/japanese-stiltgrass"},{"slug":"multiflora-rose","common":"Multiflora rose","scientific":"Rosa multiflora","inatTaxonId":78882,"kind":"plant","status":"prohibited","why":"Thorny mounds 10 ft across that choke old fields and woodland edges; birds spread the hips.","identify":"Arching canes with recurved thorns, clusters of small white flowers in June, fringed (feathery) stipules at the base of each leaf, and small red hips.","action":"Cut and dig the root crown, or repeatedly mow. Wear leather gloves and eye protection. Rose rosette disease is slowly knocking it back.","alternatives":["Virginia rose (Rosa virginiana)","Pasture rose (Rosa carolina)","Northern bayberry (Morella pensylvanica)"],"profile":{"origin":"Japan, Korea, and eastern China.","arrival":"Imported in 1866 as rootstock for grafted garden roses. From the 1930s to the 1960s the Soil Conservation Service and state wildlife agencies distributed millions of cuttings, urging farmers to plant it as a living fence and wildlife cover. Highway departments planted it in medians as a crash barrier.","impact":"It forms impenetrable thorny mounds up to 15 feet across in pastures, old fields, and woodland edges, crowding out native shrubs and wildflowers. Birds spread the small red hips everywhere; a single plant can make half a million seeds a year.","cost":"Farmers lose pasture to it and spend heavily on clearing. It has been declared a noxious weed in many states.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Virginia rose, pasture rose, swamp rose (native)","tell":"Native roses have pink flowers, straight or slightly curved thorns, and stipules with smooth edges. Multiflora rose has small white flowers in clusters, hooked thorns, and fringed, feathery stipules at the base of each leaf."}],"facts":["Rose rosette disease, spread by a tiny mite, is killing multiflora rose across the East, but it also kills garden roses.","The name multiflora refers to the clusters of many small flowers, unlike the single blooms of native roses.","Its rootstock still underlies many old grafted garden roses; the suckers with white flowers are multiflora."],"longIsland":"Common in old fields, preserve edges, and along the LIRR. Wear leather gloves and eye protection; the hooked thorns are nasty.","wiki":"Rosa_multiflora"},"life_stages":null,"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/multiflora-rose"},{"slug":"norway-maple","common":"Norway maple","scientific":"Acer platanoides","inatTaxonId":54763,"kind":"plant","status":"regulated","why":"The most common street tree of the last century casts such deep shade and drops so many seedlings that nothing grows under it, and it displaces sugar and red maples in woodlands.","identify":"Broad, dark leaves with five to seven lobes; snap a leaf stem and it oozes milky white sap (native maples do not). Yellow fall color, late.","action":"Do not plant. Remove seedlings from woodland edges. Replace aging trees with native shade trees.","alternatives":["Red maple (Acer rubrum)","Sugar maple (Acer saccharum)","White oak (Quercus alba)"],"profile":{"origin":"Europe from France to the Caucasus.","arrival":"John Bartram of Philadelphia sold the first Norway maples in America in 1756. After Dutch elm disease killed the elms that lined American streets in the 1930s through 1960s, cities planted Norway maples by the millions as a tough, fast-growing replacement.","impact":"Its dense canopy leafs out earlier and drops later than native maples and casts shade so deep that nothing grows beneath it, not even grass. Its shallow roots outcompete neighbors for water. Seedlings pour into nearby woodlands and displace sugar maple, red maple, and oak regeneration.","cost":"Cities are now paying to remove aging Norway maples that were planted as a fix. Property owners deal with bare, eroding ground under them.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Sugar maple (native)","tell":"Snap a leaf stem: Norway maple bleeds milky white sap; sugar maple sap is clear. Norway maple leaves are wider than long with more lobes, and its fall color is a late, plain yellow rather than orange."},{"name":"Red maple (native)","tell":"Red maple leaves have three main lobes with toothed edges and turn red in early fall."}],"facts":["The purple-leaved 'Crimson King' is a Norway maple and is just as invasive.","Its winged seeds spread wide, nearly 180 degrees apart; sugar maple seeds hang in a narrow U.","New York regulates but does not prohibit it, so it is still sold."],"longIsland":"The default street tree of postwar Long Island subdivisions and now a major understory invader of North Shore woodlands. Replace failing street trees with red maple, oak, or tupelo.","wiki":"Acer_platanoides"},"life_stages":null,"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/norway-maple"},{"slug":"callery-pear","common":"Callery (Bradford) pear","scientific":"Pyrus calleryana","inatTaxonId":119793,"kind":"plant","status":"watch","why":"Cultivars planted by the millions cross-pollinate and produce fertile fruit; thorny wild offspring now fill roadsides and old fields across the Mid-Atlantic. Banned in several neighboring states.","identify":"A small tree covered in white flowers in early April before the leaves, with a fishy smell; glossy, wavy-edged leaves; wild seedlings have stout thorns.","action":"Do not plant. Remove wild seedlings before they fruit. Replace declining street trees with natives.","alternatives":["Serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis)","Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis)","Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida)"],"profile":{"origin":"China and Vietnam.","arrival":"Collected in China in the early 1900s by USDA plant explorer Frank Meyer as fire-blight-resistant rootstock for orchard pears. In the 1950s a USDA breeder selected a thornless, sterile seedling, named it 'Bradford', and released it in 1960. It became the most-planted street tree in America.","impact":"Individual cultivars are self-sterile, but different cultivars planted near each other cross-pollinate and produce fertile fruit. Birds spread it, and the wild offspring revert to thorny, dense-growing trees that form thickets in fields, roadsides, and young forests, shading out native successional species.","cost":"The weak branch structure of 'Bradford' splits in storms, costing towns and homeowners in cleanup and removals. Wild thickets are thorny enough to puncture tractor tires.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Serviceberry and native crabapples","tell":"Serviceberry flowers have five narrow, strap-like petals and no smell; Callery pear flowers are rounder and smell like rotting fish. Wild Callery seedlings have stout thorns."}],"facts":["Ohio, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina have banned it; New York has not yet.","The famous rotting-fish smell of the flowers comes from trimethylamine.","Several states run bounty programs: bring proof you cut down a Callery pear and receive a free native tree."],"longIsland":"Planted along countless streets and parking lots; wild seedlings now line the LIE, Sunrise Highway, and utility corridors. Replace declining trees with serviceberry or redbud.","wiki":"Pyrus_calleryana"},"life_stages":null,"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/callery-pear"},{"slug":"autumn-olive","common":"Autumn olive","scientific":"Elaeagnus umbellata","inatTaxonId":64697,"kind":"plant","status":"prohibited","why":"Once planted for wildlife and erosion control; fixes nitrogen and overwhelms open habitats, and birds spread the fruit widely.","identify":"Shrub to 20 ft with silvery undersides on the leaves, fragrant pale yellow flowers in May, and red berries flecked with silver in fall.","action":"Cut and treat stumps; pulling small plants works. Resprouts vigorously if just cut.","alternatives":["Northern bayberry (Morella pensylvanica)","Winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata)","Serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis)"],"profile":{"origin":"China, Korea, and Japan.","arrival":"Introduced in 1830 as an ornamental, then planted by the millions from the 1940s to the 1970s by soil conservation agencies for erosion control, mine reclamation, windbreaks, and wildlife food. It was recommended in New York until the 1980s.","impact":"It fixes nitrogen, so it thrives on the poorest soils and then enriches them, changing conditions to favor other weeds over the natives adapted to lean ground. It shades out grassland and old-field species, and birds spread its abundant fruit for miles.","cost":"Now occupies former farmland, powerline corridors, and restored mine sites across the East. Cutting alone fails; it resprouts vigorously.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Northern bayberry (native)","tell":"Bayberry leaves are aromatic when crushed and have no silver scales; its fruit is a waxy gray berry. Autumn olive leaves are silvery underneath and its fruit is red flecked with silver."}],"facts":["The tart red berries are edible and high in lycopene, and some people make jam from them; just do not plant it.","A mature shrub can produce 200,000 seeds a year.","It was sold as a wildlife plant, but studies show native shrubs support far more insects and better bird nesting."],"longIsland":"Frequent in old fields, along the LIE, and around former farmland in Suffolk. Cut and treat stumps in late summer.","wiki":"Elaeagnus_umbellata"},"life_stages":null,"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/autumn-olive"},{"slug":"black-swallow-wort","common":"Black swallow-wort","scientific":"Vincetoxicum nigrum","inatTaxonId":208963,"kind":"plant","status":"prohibited","why":"A milkweed relative that monarchs mistake for milkweed; caterpillars that hatch on it die. It also forms dense mats that smother meadows.","identify":"Twining vine with opposite, glossy, pointed leaves, tiny dark purple star-shaped flowers in June, and slender milkweed-like pods that release silky seeds in late summer.","action":"Pull or dig the root crown before pods open; bag pods. Persistent; expect several years. Report it, especially near monarch habitat.","alternatives":["Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)","Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)"],"profile":{"origin":"Southwestern Europe, mainly Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy.","arrival":"First collected in Massachusetts in 1854, probably escaped from a botanical garden in Cambridge. It spread quietly along the Northeast coast for a century before anyone noticed it was a problem.","impact":"It is a milkweed relative, and monarchs sometimes lay eggs on it; every caterpillar that hatches on swallow-wort dies. It also forms dense, twining mats that smother old fields, grassland bird habitat, and rare coastal plant communities, and it is toxic to livestock and deer, so nothing keeps it in check.","cost":"It threatens grassland restoration projects across the Northeast and complicates monarch conservation in the very meadows planted for them.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Milkweeds (native)","tell":"Milkweeds are upright, not twining, with thick leaves and large pink or orange flower clusters. Swallow-wort vines twine, have small glossy leaves, and tiny dark purple flowers."}],"facts":["A moth from Europe, Hypena opulenta, was approved for release in 2017 as a biological control and is being tested in New York.","Its seeds fly on silky parachutes like milkweed, and many pods hold twin seeds.","The name comes from an old belief that swallows used the plant to restore sight to their young."],"longIsland":"Established in coastal meadows and roadside edges in both counties. Bag pods in August before they open; report it near monarch habitat.","wiki":"Vincetoxicum_nigrum"},"life_stages":[{"key":"shoots","label":"New shoots","months":[5],"look":"Twining shoots with glossy, opposite, pointed leaves emerging in meadows, hedgerows, and garden beds.","action":"Dig root crowns while the ground is soft."},{"key":"flowering","label":"Flowering","months":[6,7],"term":12,"value":13,"look":"Tiny dark purple to black star-shaped flowers along the vine. Monarchs lay eggs on it now; the caterpillars die.","action":"Pull or dig; do not just cut."},{"key":"pods","label":"Seed pods","months":[8,9],"term":12,"value":14,"look":"Slender pointed pods like small milkweed pods, splitting to release silky seed.","action":"Bag pods before they open. Report it near monarch habitat."}],"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/black-swallow-wort"},{"slug":"pale-swallow-wort","common":"Pale swallow-wort","scientific":"Vincetoxicum rossicum","inatTaxonId":632667,"kind":"plant","status":"prohibited","why":"Like black swallow-wort, a deadly decoy for monarch eggs and an aggressive meadow invader.","identify":"Similar vine with pink to maroon flowers rather than near-black ones.","action":"Same as black swallow-wort: dig root crowns, bag pods, report.","alternatives":["Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)","Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)"],"profile":{"origin":"Ukraine and southern European Russia around the Black Sea.","arrival":"Introduced to North America in the late 1800s, probably through botanical gardens, and first collected in New York around 1897. It spread from the Great Lakes region eastward.","impact":"Like black swallow-wort, it is a deadly decoy for monarch eggs and forms dense stands that exclude native meadow plants. It tolerates sun and shade, so it invades forest understory too.","cost":"It has taken over thousands of acres of old fields and limestone alvars in upstate New York and Ontario, some of the rarest habitats in the region.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Black swallow-wort","tell":"Pale swallow-wort flowers are pink to maroon with narrow petals; black swallow-wort flowers are so dark they look black. Both need the same treatment."}],"facts":["In heavily infested areas it can produce more than 2,000 seeds per square yard.","Each seed can contain multiple embryos, so one seed may produce several plants.","It is sometimes called dog-strangling vine in Canada, though it strangles plants, not dogs."],"longIsland":"Less common here than black swallow-wort, but present. Report any sighting.","wiki":"Vincetoxicum_rossicum"},"life_stages":null,"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/pale-swallow-wort"},{"slug":"japanese-honeysuckle","common":"Japanese honeysuckle","scientific":"Lonicera japonica","inatTaxonId":77835,"kind":"plant","status":"prohibited","why":"Semi-evergreen vine that strangles saplings and blankets fence lines and forest edges across Long Island.","identify":"Twining vine with opposite oval leaves that stay green into winter, fragrant white-to-yellow paired flowers, and black berries.","action":"Pull or cut and treat; it roots wherever stems touch ground. Replace with the native red-flowered vine hummingbirds prefer.","alternatives":["Trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)","Virgin's bower (Clematis virginiana)"],"profile":{"origin":"Japan, Korea, and eastern China.","arrival":"Introduced to Long Island in 1806 as an ornamental vine, and later planted across the country for erosion control and as deer forage. Its sweet-scented flowers made it a garden favorite for 150 years.","impact":"The semi-evergreen vine keeps growing after natives go dormant, so it gets a head start every spring. It twines around saplings and girdles them, blankets shrubs, and forms mats that exclude ground-layer plants. It thrives on forest edges and in the gaps storms create.","cost":"One of the most widespread invasive vines in the eastern United States, degrading forest regeneration across millions of acres.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Trumpet honeysuckle (native)","tell":"Trumpet honeysuckle has red tubular flowers, orange-red berries, and the top pair of leaves fused around the stem. Japanese honeysuckle has white-to-yellow flowers in pairs and black berries."}],"facts":["It was introduced through a Long Island nursery, so this one is partly our fault.","Its flowers open white and turn yellow after pollination, hence the folk name gold-and-silver flower.","Children who learned to pull the flower and sip the nectar drop were sampling one of the most widespread weeds in the country."],"longIsland":"Ubiquitous on fence lines, hedgerows, and woodland edges in both counties. Replace with trumpet honeysuckle, which hummingbirds prefer anyway.","wiki":"Lonicera_japonica"},"life_stages":null,"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/japanese-honeysuckle"},{"slug":"amur-honeysuckle","common":"Bush honeysuckles (Amur, Morrow's, Tatarian)","scientific":"Lonicera maackii and relatives","inatTaxonId":82342,"kind":"plant","status":"prohibited","why":"Leaf out early and drop late, shading out spring wildflowers; their berries are junk food for migrating birds.","identify":"Upright shrubs with opposite leaves, hollow twigs (native honeysuckles have solid pith), paired white-to-pink flowers in May, and red berries.","action":"Pull seedlings; cut and treat larger shrubs. Roots are shallow, so a weed wrench works well.","alternatives":["Northern spicebush (Lindera benzoin)","Arrowwood viburnum (Viburnum dentatum)","Winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata)"],"profile":{"origin":"Amur honeysuckle is from the Amur River basin of northeast China, Korea, and the Russian Far East; Morrow's and Tatarian honeysuckles are from Japan and central Asia.","arrival":"Tatarian honeysuckle arrived in 1752 as an ornamental. Amur and Morrow's came in the late 1800s through botanical gardens, and the USDA promoted bush honeysuckles from the 1960s to the 1980s for wildlife food and erosion control.","impact":"They leaf out weeks before native shrubs and hold leaves weeks later, shading out spring ephemerals and tree seedlings. Their berries are high in sugar but low in the fat migrating birds need, and nests built in them suffer higher predation because the branches are low and open. They also change forest soils and light so much that native regeneration nearly stops.","cost":"Dominant in disturbed forests across the Midwest and Northeast. Removal is straightforward but endless without replanting.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Native bush honeysuckles (Diervilla) and fly honeysuckle","tell":"Cut a twig: invasive honeysuckles have hollow brown pith; natives have solid white pith. Native fly honeysuckle has paired yellow flowers in April and red fruit joined at the base."}],"facts":["Cardinals that eat honeysuckle berries develop orange-tinged feathers from the fruit pigments.","The berries are mildly toxic to people.","A single large shrub can produce more than a million seeds over its life."],"longIsland":"Common in disturbed woodlands, park edges, and old hedgerows. Pull seedlings; the shallow roots come up with a weed wrench.","wiki":"Lonicera_maackii"},"life_stages":null,"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/amur-honeysuckle"},{"slug":"common-buckthorn","common":"Common and glossy buckthorn","scientific":"Rhamnus cathartica / Frangula alnus","inatTaxonId":54811,"kind":"plant","status":"prohibited","why":"Thicket-forming shrubs that shade out natives and whose laxative berries help birds spread them; alternate host of soybean aphid and oat rust.","identify":"Small trees with dark bark, sometimes a thorn at the twig tip, glossy leaves that stay green late into fall, and clusters of black berries.","action":"Pull small plants; cut and treat stumps of large ones. Prioritize female (fruiting) plants.","alternatives":["Northern spicebush (Lindera benzoin)","Black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)"],"profile":{"origin":"Europe, western Asia, and North Africa; glossy buckthorn from Europe and western Asia.","arrival":"Common buckthorn was brought over as a hedge plant in the early 1800s and sold for shelterbelts and living fences into the 1930s. Glossy buckthorn was planted for wildlife and windbreaks.","impact":"Both leaf out early and hold leaves late, casting shade that eliminates the ground layer. Buckthorn litter raises soil nitrogen and favors invasive earthworms. The berries have a laxative effect on birds, which spreads seed faster. Common buckthorn is the overwintering host of soybean aphid; glossy buckthorn hosts oat crown rust.","cost":"Agricultural losses from the pests it harbors, plus decades of removal work in Midwestern and Northeastern woodlands.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Alder-leaved buckthorn and Carolina buckthorn (native)","tell":"Natives lack the thorn at the twig tip and have finely toothed leaves; common buckthorn leaves have three to five curving veins and sub-opposite arrangement, and glossy buckthorn has smooth, glossy, untoothed leaves."}],"facts":["The berries were once the source of a yellow-green dye called sap green used by medieval illuminators.","Female plants can be spotted in fall by their heavy black berry clusters; prioritize those.","New York prohibited sale of both species in 2015."],"longIsland":"Scattered in North Shore woodlands and wet thickets. Cut and treat stumps; pull seedlings.","wiki":"Rhamnus_cathartica"},"life_stages":null,"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/common-buckthorn"},{"slug":"english-ivy","common":"English ivy","scientific":"Hedera helix","inatTaxonId":55882,"kind":"plant","status":"watch","why":"Smothers the ground layer, climbs and weakens trees, and once mature, fruits and spreads by birds. Ubiquitous in North Shore woods.","identify":"Evergreen vine with lobed, waxy dark green leaves (juvenile) or unlobed leaves and black berries on climbing adult stems.","action":"Cut vines around tree trunks at chest and ankle height and pull the ground layer in sections. Replace with native ground covers.","alternatives":["Wild ginger (Asarum canadense)","Allegheny pachysandra (Pachysandra procumbens)","Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica)"],"profile":{"origin":"Europe, western Asia, and North Africa.","arrival":"Brought by European colonists in the early 1700s as a ground cover and wall covering, evoking the ivy-covered halls of home. It has been sold continuously ever since and is still one of the most common landscape plants on Long Island.","impact":"As a ground cover it smothers native wildflowers and tree seedlings in a solid evergreen mat. Climbing, it weighs down and shades trees, holds moisture against bark, and hides decay. Once it climbs and matures, it flowers and fruits, and birds spread it into every nearby woodland. It also hosts bacterial leaf scorch, which kills oaks and elms.","cost":"Removal from woodlands is slow hand labor. Trees weakened by ivy fall in storms; ivy-covered walls need repointing.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Poison ivy (native)","tell":"Poison ivy has three leaflets and hairy aerial roots; English ivy has single lobed evergreen leaves. Virginia creeper has five leaflets."}],"facts":["Juvenile ivy climbs and has lobed leaves; adult ivy stops climbing, grows shrubby, has unlobed leaves, and only then flowers and fruits.","The adult flowers in October are an important late nectar source for bees and wasps, one of few things in its favor.","Oregon and Washington have banned its sale; New York has not."],"longIsland":"Carpets the floor of nearly every North Shore estate woodland and older neighborhood. Cut climbing vines at chest and ankle height and pull the ground layer in sections.","wiki":"Hedera_helix"},"life_stages":null,"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/english-ivy"},{"slug":"chinese-wisteria","common":"Chinese and Japanese wisteria","scientific":"Wisteria sinensis / W. floribunda","inatTaxonId":127306,"kind":"plant","status":"regulated","why":"Escapes from old gardens into woodlands, where vines as thick as a leg girdle and topple trees.","identify":"Woody twining vine with compound leaves and long drooping clusters of fragrant purple flowers in May, before or with the leaves.","action":"Cut and treat; pull root suckers persistently. Replace with the native species, which is far better behaved.","alternatives":["American wisteria (Wisteria frutescens)"],"profile":{"origin":"Chinese wisteria from central China; Japanese wisteria from Japan.","arrival":"Chinese wisteria arrived in 1816 and Japanese wisteria in 1830, both as ornamental vines for arbors and porches. Old estates on Long Island's Gold Coast planted them lavishly, and they are still sold.","impact":"Vines up to 15 inches thick girdle and topple mature trees and form solid canopies in the gaps they create. Root suckers and layering stems spread stands outward decades after the house they were planted at is gone.","cost":"Removing established wisteria from woodlands requires years of cutting and treatment. It also collapses arbors and damages siding on houses.","lookalikes":[{"name":"American wisteria (native)","tell":"American wisteria blooms in June, after the leaves are out, with shorter, denser flower clusters; the invasive species bloom in May before or with the leaves with long drooping clusters. Chinese wisteria twines counterclockwise, Japanese clockwise."}],"facts":["A single Chinese wisteria in Sierra Madre, California, planted in 1894, now covers more than an acre and is listed as the largest flowering plant in the world.","All parts, especially the seeds, are poisonous.","Vines can live more than 100 years and take 15 years to bloom from seed."],"longIsland":"Escaped from old North Shore estates into surrounding woods, where it is toppling trees. Replace with American wisteria, which is better behaved and blooms longer.","wiki":"Wisteria_sinensis"},"life_stages":null,"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/chinese-wisteria"},{"slug":"mugwort","common":"Mugwort","scientific":"Artemisia vulgaris","inatTaxonId":52856,"kind":"plant","status":"watch","why":"The gray-green weed that takes over every disturbed lot, roadside, and garden bed on Long Island, spreading by rhizomes and suppressing neighbors chemically.","identify":"Aromatic (sage-like) plant 2 to 5 ft tall with deeply lobed leaves that are green above and silvery-white and woolly below.","action":"Persistent digging of rhizomes, smothering with cardboard and mulch, or repeated cutting. Never rototill it; that multiplies it.","alternatives":["Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)","Clustered mountain mint (Pycnanthemum muticum)","Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)"],"profile":{"origin":"Europe and Asia.","arrival":"Brought by early European colonists as a medicinal and culinary herb, and repeatedly reintroduced in ship ballast and in nursery stock. It was well established in the Northeast by the 1800s.","impact":"It spreads by tough rhizomes and releases chemicals that suppress neighboring plants, forming pure stands along roadsides, in vacant lots, and in any garden bed it reaches. Its wind-borne pollen is a significant late-summer allergen, and it is nearly impossible to eradicate once established.","cost":"Probably the most common weed in Long Island landscapes and a persistent problem in nurseries, where it hitchhikes in container soil to new sites.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Chrysanthemums and wormwood","tell":"Mugwort leaves are deeply lobed, green above and silvery-white and woolly beneath, with a sage-like smell. Garden mums have similar leaves but are not silvery beneath."}],"facts":["It is the moxa of traditional Chinese moxibustion and the flavoring in some traditional beers before hops.","Rototilling a mugwort patch turns one plant into hundreds; every rhizome fragment grows.","It is a major cause of fall hay fever in the Northeast, right alongside ragweed."],"longIsland":"Everywhere: roadsides, medians, new construction, and unfortunately most garden beds. Smother with cardboard and mulch, then plant densely.","wiki":"Artemisia_vulgaris"},"life_stages":null,"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/mugwort"},{"slug":"chinese-silver-grass","common":"Chinese silver grass (Miscanthus)","scientific":"Miscanthus sinensis","inatTaxonId":165474,"kind":"plant","status":"regulated","why":"The most popular ornamental grass seeds into roadsides and meadows, forming flammable clumps that displace native grasses.","identify":"Large clumping grass to 8 ft with a white midrib stripe on the leaves and silvery, feathery plumes in fall.","action":"Remove flower plumes before seed matures, or dig out clumps. Replace with a native grass.","alternatives":["Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)","Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)","Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans)"],"profile":{"origin":"Japan, Korea, China, and Taiwan.","arrival":"Introduced in the late 1800s as an ornamental grass and now sold in dozens of cultivars. It is one of the most popular garden grasses in America, which is precisely the problem: it escapes from the millions of gardens where it grows.","impact":"Seedlings colonize roadsides, meadows, and forest openings, forming clumps that exclude native grasses and wildflowers. Dry stands are extremely flammable and have carried wildfire in the Mid-Atlantic.","cost":"Fire risk along highways and near homes; loss of native meadow habitat. Regulated in New York, so it is sold with a warning label.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Switchgrass, Indiangrass, and big bluestem (native)","tell":"Miscanthus leaves have a white midrib stripe and its plumes are silvery and feathery. Native grasses lack the white stripe and have narrower, golden or bronze seed heads."}],"facts":["Some cultivars are sold as sterile, but many set viable seed, especially when planted near other cultivars.","Giant miscanthus, a sterile hybrid, is grown as a biofuel crop and is not the same plant.","The plumes are used in Japanese autumn moon-viewing festivals."],"longIsland":"Escaping along the LIE, Sunrise Highway, and near suburban plantings. Replace with switchgrass or little bluestem, which do the same job for the garden and feed skippers.","wiki":"Miscanthus_sinensis"},"life_stages":null,"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/chinese-silver-grass"},{"slug":"lesser-celandine","common":"Lesser celandine","scientific":"Ficaria verna","inatTaxonId":204321,"kind":"plant","status":"prohibited","why":"Carpets floodplains and lawns with a mat of glossy leaves in early spring, crowding out native ephemerals, then vanishes by June, leaving bare soil.","identify":"Low rosettes of shiny heart-shaped leaves and bright yellow eight-petaled buttercup flowers in March and April; tiny tubers and bulbils spread it.","action":"Hard to control by hand because of the bulbils. Dig small patches carefully and bag all soil; larger areas need targeted early-spring treatment. Report it.","alternatives":["Golden ragwort (Packera aurea)","Marsh marigold (Caltha palustris)"],"profile":{"origin":"Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa.","arrival":"Introduced as an ornamental ground cover for its early, glossy yellow flowers; the first American record is from Pennsylvania in 1867. It is still sold in some catalogs under the name fig buttercup.","impact":"It carpets floodplain forests and lawns in March and April, exactly when native spring ephemerals like trout lily, spring beauty, and bloodroot need to bloom. It shades them out, then dies back by June, leaving bare soil. It spreads by tubers and bulbils that wash downstream with every flood.","cost":"Extremely difficult to control because every bulbil left behind regrows. Infested parks in New York City and Philadelphia have lost most of their native spring wildflowers.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Marsh marigold (native)","tell":"Marsh marigold is larger, has five to nine petals, no tubers, and grows only in wet places. Lesser celandine has eight or more narrow petals, tubers, and grows in lawns and floodplains alike."}],"facts":["Wordsworth loved it and wrote three poems about it; it is carved on his memorial.","It was called pilewort because the knobby tubers resembled hemorrhoids, which it was used to treat.","It is one of the first flowers of spring and one of the first to vanish; by June there is no trace above ground."],"longIsland":"Spreading along streams and in floodplain woods in Nassau County parks. Dig small patches carefully with all soil and report larger ones.","wiki":"Ficaria_verna"},"life_stages":[{"key":"flowering","label":"Flowering","months":[3,4],"term":12,"value":13,"look":"Mats of glossy, heart-shaped leaves with bright yellow, eight-petaled flowers in floodplains, lawns, and shady beds.","action":"Dig small patches with all soil into bags before the bulbils drop; report larger ones."},{"key":"fading","label":"Dying back","months":[5],"look":"Yellowing leaves and tiny tubers and bulbils dropping into the soil.","action":"Do not rake or move soil from the patch."},{"key":"dormant","label":"Gone","months":[6,7,8,9,10,11,12,1,2],"look":"Nothing visible at all; bare soil where native spring wildflowers should be.","action":"Mark the spot for March."}],"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/lesser-celandine"},{"slug":"yellow-iris","common":"Yellow flag iris","scientific":"Iris pseudacorus","inatTaxonId":47779,"kind":"plant","status":"prohibited","why":"A garden pond escapee that forms dense rhizome mats along pond edges and streams, displacing native wetland plants. All parts are toxic.","identify":"The only large yellow-flowered iris in New York wetlands; sword-like leaves to 4 ft, blooming in May and June.","action":"Dig rhizomes wearing gloves (the sap irritates skin). Bag and trash. Replace with the native blue flag.","alternatives":["Northern blue flag (Iris versicolor)","Blue vervain (Verbena hastata)"],"profile":{"origin":"Europe, western Asia, and northwest Africa.","arrival":"Introduced as an ornamental for ponds and water gardens in the late 1800s and also planted in sewage treatment lagoons because it takes up nutrients and metals. Escaped from garden ponds into natural wetlands.","impact":"Its rhizome mats spread outward from pond edges and stream banks, crowding out native sedges, cattails, and blue flag iris, trapping sediment, and narrowing channels. It tolerates salt, so it invades brackish marsh edges too.","cost":"Wetland managers on Long Island and across the Northeast spend effort removing it from pond restorations. All parts are toxic to livestock, and the sap irritates skin.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Northern blue flag (native)","tell":"Blue flag has violet-blue flowers. Yellow flag is the only tall yellow-flowered iris in New York wetlands."}],"facts":["It is the fleur-de-lis of French heraldry and the flag in the name refers to the reedy plant, not a banner.","Seeds float and stay viable in water for months.","It has been used to remove heavy metals from wastewater, which is why treatment plants planted it."],"longIsland":"Around many freshwater ponds, including park ponds in Nassau County, and in some brackish marsh edges. Dig rhizomes wearing gloves.","wiki":"Iris_pseudacorus"},"life_stages":null,"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/yellow-iris"},{"slug":"amur-corktree","common":"Amur corktree","scientific":"Phellodendron amurense","inatTaxonId":166636,"kind":"plant","status":"prohibited","why":"Planted as a street tree; female trees rain down berries that create dense seedling carpets in Long Island parks and preserves.","identify":"Medium tree with deeply furrowed, spongy, corky bark, opposite compound leaves, and clusters of black berries with a citrus smell when crushed.","action":"Remove female trees and seedlings; report new infestations.","alternatives":["White oak (Quercus alba)","Black gum (Nyssa sylvatica)"],"profile":{"origin":"Northeastern China, Korea, and Japan around the Amur River.","arrival":"Introduced to the United States around 1856 through the Arnold Arboretum and promoted as a tough, pest-free street tree in the 20th century. New York City parks and Long Island campuses planted it widely.","impact":"Female trees drop enormous crops of black berries that birds spread into woodlands, where seedlings form dense stands. It grows faster than oaks and hickories in forest gaps and takes their place, changing the forest canopy for a century.","cost":"Parks in New York City and on Long Island have found corktree seedlings dominating regeneration and have launched removal programs. It is prohibited in New York.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Ash and black walnut (native)","tell":"Corktree bark is deeply furrowed and spongy, and crushed leaves smell of citrus or turpentine. Ash bark is diamond-ridged and hard; walnut leaves smell spicy."}],"facts":["Its inner bark is bright yellow and has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for two thousand years.","The corky bark is soft enough to press with a thumbnail.","Male cultivars exist and do not fruit, but they still pollinate any females nearby."],"longIsland":"Seedling carpets have been found in several Nassau County preserves downwind of old campus and park plantings. Remove females first.","wiki":"Phellodendron_amurense"},"life_stages":null,"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/amur-corktree"},{"slug":"tropical-milkweed","common":"Tropical milkweed","scientific":"Asclepias curassavica","inatTaxonId":75602,"kind":"plant","status":"avoid","why":"Sold as monarch food, but in the Northeast it can disrupt migration cues and lets the debilitating parasite OE build up on the leaves. Native milkweeds do the job without the risk.","identify":"Bushy plant with narrow leaves and bright red-orange and yellow flower clusters, often sold as annual milkweed or bloodflower.","action":"Do not plant. If you have it, cut it to the ground in early fall. Choose common, swamp, or butterfly milkweed instead.","alternatives":["Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)","Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)","Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)"],"profile":{"origin":"Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.","arrival":"Sold across the United States since the mid-20th century as an easy annual milkweed for butterfly gardens, and heavily promoted during the monarch-decline publicity of the 2000s. Big-box stores still stock it every spring, often labeled simply as milkweed.","impact":"Because it does not die back on schedule, it can signal monarchs to keep breeding in fall instead of migrating, and it lets the parasite OE accumulate on leaves over months. In the Southeast it has created year-round non-migratory monarch populations with very high parasite loads.","cost":"It complicates monarch conservation in the very gardens planted to help, and diverts sales from native milkweed nurseries.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Butterfly weed (native)","tell":"Butterfly weed has flat-topped clusters of solid orange flowers and narrow leaves on stiff hairy stems. Tropical milkweed flowers are two-toned, red-orange with a yellow crown, and the plant is bushier with smooth stems."}],"facts":["It is not regulated in New York, which is why it is still everywhere.","It is also called bloodflower and scarlet milkweed.","Cutting it to the ground in early fall removes most of the risk if you already have it."],"longIsland":"Frost kills it here, so it does not naturalize, but it is common in butterfly gardens. Replace with common, swamp, or butterfly milkweed.","wiki":"Asclepias_curassavica"},"life_stages":null,"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/tropical-milkweed"},{"slug":"butterfly-bush","common":"Butterfly bush","scientific":"Buddleja davidii","inatTaxonId":75916,"kind":"plant","status":"avoid","why":"Offers adult butterflies nectar but hosts no caterpillars, and it seeds into riverbanks and disturbed ground. It is a nectar bar, not habitat.","identify":"Arching shrub with gray-green lance-shaped leaves and long cones of fragrant purple, pink, or white flowers in summer.","action":"Replace with natives that feed both adults and caterpillars; if you keep it, deadhead relentlessly and choose sterile cultivars.","alternatives":["Sweet pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia)","Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)","Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium spp.)","New York ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis)"],"profile":{"origin":"Central China and Japan.","arrival":"Introduced to Britain in the 1890s and to America soon after. It exploded in popularity as a butterfly-garden plant in the 1980s and 1990s and is now one of the best-selling shrubs in the country.","impact":"It provides nectar to adult butterflies but hosts no caterpillars, so a garden full of it produces no butterflies. Its tiny seeds blow into river gravel bars, railroad beds, and disturbed ground, where it forms thickets that displace willows and other native pioneer shrubs.","cost":"It is a listed noxious weed in Oregon and Washington and regulated in several eastern states. Its main cost is opportunity: the space and enthusiasm it absorbs could be growing plants that feed caterpillars.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Sweet pepperbush and buttonbush (native)","tell":"Both are native shrubs that also draw crowds of butterflies. Pepperbush has upright white spikes in August; buttonbush has round white flower balls in July."}],"facts":["A single plant can shed 40,000 seeds, viable for several years.","The nectar is real; the problem is that a butterfly garden needs host plants for caterpillars, not just a bar for adults.","Newer sterile cultivars reduce the spread problem but not the lack of caterpillar food."],"longIsland":"Not yet a major escapee here, but seedlings turn up along the LIRR and on disturbed ground. Replace with sweet pepperbush, buttonbush, or Joe Pye weed.","wiki":"Buddleja_davidii"},"life_stages":null,"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/butterfly-bush"},{"slug":"spotted-lanternfly","common":"Spotted lanternfly","scientific":"Lycorma delicatula","inatTaxonId":324726,"kind":"insect","status":"pest","why":"Planthopper that swarms grapevines, maples, and dozens of other plants, sucking sap and coating everything below in sticky honeydew and sooty mold. Established across Long Island since 2020.","identify":"Adults (July to December) are an inch long with gray spotted forewings and red-and-black hindwings; nymphs are black with white spots, turning red before adulthood. Egg masses look like smears of gray putty.","action":"Squash nymphs and adults, scrape egg masses into alcohol from September to May, and remove tree-of-heaven, its favorite host. Report in newly affected areas.","profile":{"origin":"China, with populations in Vietnam and India; it invaded South Korea in 2006.","arrival":"Egg masses on a shipment of landscaping stone from China hatched in Berks County, Pennsylvania, in 2014. From there it hitchhiked on vehicles, rail cars, and nursery stock. It was confirmed on Long Island in 2020 and is now established in both counties.","impact":"Adults and nymphs feed in swarms on the sap of more than 70 plants, especially tree-of-heaven, grapevines, maples, black walnut, and hops. Heavy feeding weakens vines and young trees, and the honeydew they excrete coats everything below in sticky sugar that grows black sooty mold, smothering leaves and making decks and cars filthy.","cost":"Pennsylvania estimated potential losses of hundreds of millions of dollars a year to its grape, orchard, nursery, and timber industries. Long Island's North Fork wine region is directly in its path.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Native planthoppers and moths","tell":"Nothing native looks like the adult; the gray spotted forewings and scarlet hindwings are unique. Early nymphs are sometimes confused with immature stink bugs, but lanternfly nymphs hop and have white polka dots."},{"name":"Boxelder bug","tell":"Boxelder bugs are red and black adults, not nymphs, and do not hop."}],"facts":["It is not a fly and cannot bite or sting; it is a planthopper related to cicadas.","Adults are weak fliers but strong hoppers, and they spread mainly by laying eggs on things that move: cars, trains, firewood, stone.","Praying mantises, spiders, chickens, and some birds eat them, and native predators are slowly catching on.","Removing tree-of-heaven, its favorite host, is the most effective long-term local control."],"longIsland":"Established island-wide since 2020, with heavy populations in Nassau and western Suffolk. Squash nymphs and adults, scrape egg masses October through April, and check your car before driving east toward the vineyards.","wiki":"Spotted_lanternfly"},"life_stages":[{"key":"egg","label":"Egg masses","months":[10,11,12,1,2,3,4],"term":1,"value":7,"look":"Gray-brown, putty-like smears 1 to 1.5 inches long holding 30 to 50 eggs, on tree bark, stone, fences, cars, grills, and patio furniture. Older masses crack and look like dried mud.","action":"Scrape into a bag of rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer and seal. Check vehicles and firewood before traveling."},{"key":"nymph-early","label":"Early nymphs","months":[5,6],"term":1,"value":5,"look":"Black, a quarter inch long, covered in white polka dots. They hop when approached and cluster on tree-of-heaven, grapevines, black walnut, roses, and garden vegetables.","action":"Squash them. Wrap trunks with sticky bands only inside a wildlife guard, or use circle traps. Remove tree-of-heaven."},{"key":"nymph-late","label":"Red nymphs","months":[7],"term":1,"value":5,"look":"Bright red with black and white spots, about half an inch. The last stage before adults, often in groups on stems.","action":"Squash. Circle traps on trunks catch large numbers now."},{"key":"adult","label":"Adults","months":[8,9,10,11],"term":1,"value":2,"look":"An inch long with gray, black-spotted forewings; the red, black, and white hindwings flash in flight. Swarms on tree-of-heaven, maples, and grapevines, with sticky honeydew and black sooty mold below.","action":"Squash. Egg-laying starts in late September, so kill adults before then. Report in towns where they are not yet known."}],"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/spotted-lanternfly"},{"slug":"emerald-ash-borer","common":"Emerald ash borer","scientific":"Agrilus planipennis","inatTaxonId":70057,"kind":"insect","status":"pest","why":"Has killed tens of millions of ash trees across North America; larvae tunnel under the bark and girdle the tree within a few years.","identify":"Metallic green beetle half an inch long; D-shaped exit holes in ash bark, S-shaped galleries under bark, thinning crowns, and woodpecker damage.","action":"Do not move firewood. Valuable ash trees can be protected with systemic treatments by a certified arborist. Report new finds.","profile":{"origin":"Northeastern Asia: China, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, and the Russian Far East.","arrival":"Arrived in wood packing material in shipping crates and was discovered killing ash trees near Detroit in 2002, though it had probably been there since the early 1990s. It was found in New York in 2009 and on Long Island in 2018, spreading largely in firewood.","impact":"Larvae tunnel serpentine galleries under the bark that cut off water and nutrient flow; an infested ash dies in two to four years. It kills more than 99 percent of the ash trees it reaches, removing an entire genus from forests and taking with it the dozens of insects that depend only on ash.","cost":"The most destructive forest pest in North American history by dollar value: tens of millions of trees dead and tens of billions of dollars in removal, replacement, and lost property value. Municipalities on Long Island are removing street ash trees now.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Six-spotted tiger beetle and native metallic wood-borers","tell":"The tiger beetle is bright green but larger, runs on bare ground, and has white spots. Emerald ash borer is slender, bullet-shaped, half an inch long, and found only on ash."}],"facts":["The D-shaped exit hole is the diagnostic sign: flat on one side, curved on the other, about an eighth of an inch across.","Woodpeckers strip infested ash bark to reach the larvae, leaving pale patches called blonding that you can spot from the road.","Tiny parasitoid wasps from Asia have been released across New York as biological control and are establishing."],"longIsland":"Confirmed in both counties since 2018. If you have a healthy ash you want to keep, a certified arborist can protect it with trunk injections every two to three years. Never move firewood.","wiki":"Emerald_ash_borer"},"life_stages":[{"key":"larva","label":"Larvae under bark","months":[8,9,10,11,12,1,2,3,4,5],"term":1,"value":6,"look":"Cream-colored, flat, segmented larvae in S-shaped galleries under ash bark. From outside: thinning crown, sprouts from the trunk, bark splits, and pale flecking where woodpeckers have been feeding.","action":"Have valuable ash trees treated by a certified arborist in spring. Never move firewood."},{"key":"adult","label":"Adult beetles","months":[6,7],"term":1,"value":2,"look":"Metallic emerald beetles half an inch long on ash foliage; fresh D-shaped exit holes an eighth of an inch across in the bark.","action":"Report new finds. Trunk treatments must be in place before or during flight."}],"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/emerald-ash-borer"},{"slug":"asian-longhorned-beetle","common":"Asian longhorned beetle","scientific":"Anoplophora glabripennis","inatTaxonId":128525,"kind":"insect","status":"pest","why":"Kills maples and other hardwoods; Long Island had an active infestation in Amityville and Massapequa that took years of tree removals to eradicate.","identify":"Large glossy black beetle with white spots and very long black-and-white banded antennae; dime-sized perfectly round exit holes in trunks; sawdust piles at the base.","action":"Report immediately to the state or USDA. Do not move firewood.","profile":{"origin":"China and the Korean peninsula.","arrival":"Arrived in solid wood packing material from China. First discovered in Brooklyn in 1996 boring into Norway maples, then found in Amityville and Massapequa on Long Island in 1999, and later in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio, and South Carolina.","impact":"Larvae bore deep into the heartwood of maples, birches, elms, willows, horse chestnuts, and other hardwoods, structurally weakening and eventually killing them. Unlike most borers it attacks healthy trees. If it escaped into the northern hardwood forest, it would threaten the maple syrup and fall foliage economies.","cost":"Eradication in New York, including Long Island, required cutting down and chipping more than 20,000 trees over two decades and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The Long Island infestation was declared eradicated in 2019, a genuine success that depends on people still reporting.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Whitespotted sawyer (native)","tell":"The native sawyer has a single white spot at the top of the wing covers and duller, bronzy coloring. The Asian longhorned beetle is glossy jet black with many bright white spots and banded antennae."}],"facts":["Adults chew perfectly round exit holes about the diameter of a pencil, and the sawdust they push out piles in branch crotches.","Females chew oval pits in bark to lay each egg, so trunks look pockmarked.","August is Tree Check Month nationally because that is when adults are most visible."],"longIsland":"Eradicated from Nassau and Suffolk after a 20-year effort, but the beetle is still established elsewhere and could return in firewood. Report any glossy black beetle with white spots and long banded antennae.","wiki":"Asian_long-horned_beetle"},"life_stages":[{"key":"larva","label":"Larvae inside trunks","months":[9,10,11,12,1,2,3,4,5,6],"term":1,"value":6,"look":"Hidden inside maples, birches, elms, and willows. Look for coarse sawdust-like frass piled at the base of trunks and in branch crotches, and oozing sap from oval egg sites.","action":"Report suspicious frass or dime-sized perfectly round holes to the state or USDA."},{"key":"adult","label":"Adult beetles","months":[7,8,9,10],"term":1,"value":2,"look":"Glossy black, 1 to 1.5 inches, with white spots and antennae longer than the body banded black and white.","action":"Capture in a jar, photograph, and report immediately. Long Island's last infestation took years to eradicate."}],"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/asian-longhorned-beetle"},{"slug":"hemlock-woolly-adelgid","common":"Hemlock woolly adelgid","scientific":"Adelges tsugae","inatTaxonId":61513,"kind":"insect","status":"pest","why":"Tiny sap-sucking insect that is killing eastern hemlocks throughout the Northeast, including the last hemlocks in Long Island's North Shore ravines.","identify":"White cottony tufts at the base of hemlock needles on the underside of twigs, most visible in late winter and spring.","action":"Trees can be treated by an arborist. Report infested hemlocks in preserves.","profile":{"origin":"Japan, where native hemlocks tolerate it and predators keep it in check.","arrival":"First found in Virginia in 1951, probably on imported Japanese hemlock nursery stock. It spread slowly at first, then rapidly through the Appalachians and the Northeast from the 1980s on. It reached Long Island in the late 1980s and has been killing our hemlocks ever since.","impact":"The aphid-like insects feed at the base of needles, starving the tree of stored nutrients. Needles drop, branches die from the bottom up, and the tree dies in 4 to 10 years. Hemlocks shade cold streams; when they die, brook trout and salamanders lose habitat and the streams warm.","cost":"Hemlock has been effectively eliminated from much of the southern Appalachians. In New York, land managers spend heavily on insecticide treatments for high-value trees and on releasing predator beetles.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Spider egg sacs and spittlebugs","tell":"Adelgid wool is always at the base of individual needles on the underside of twigs, in neat rows, and cannot be wiped off cleanly. Spittlebug foam is wet and on stems."}],"facts":["All adelgids in North America are female and reproduce without mating, so a single one can start a population.","They are active in winter and dormant in summer, the reverse of most insects.","Two predator beetles, Laricobius and Sasajiscymnus, have been released in New York and are establishing."],"longIsland":"Most wild hemlocks in the North Shore ravines are dead or dying. Landscape hemlocks can be kept alive with treatment every few years. Check the undersides of twigs in March.","wiki":"Hemlock_woolly_adelgid"},"life_stages":[{"key":"wool","label":"White wool visible","months":[11,12,1,2,3,4,5],"look":"White cottony tufts at the base of needles on the underside of hemlock twigs, like tiny cotton swabs. Most visible late winter and spring.","action":"Check every hemlock now. Arborist treatments work best in spring and fall."},{"key":"summer","label":"Hard to see","months":[6,7,8,9,10],"look":"Nymphs are dormant and the wool weathers away, so infested trees look clean. Thinning, grayish foliage is the only clue.","action":"Note suspect trees and schedule a fall treatment."}],"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/hemlock-woolly-adelgid"},{"slug":"spongy-moth","common":"Spongy moth (formerly gypsy moth)","scientific":"Lymantria dispar","inatTaxonId":47802,"kind":"insect","status":"pest","why":"Outbreaks strip oaks bare across Long Island's pine barrens and North Shore woods every several years, weakening or killing trees.","identify":"Hairy caterpillars with five pairs of blue dots followed by six pairs of red dots along the back; tan fuzzy egg masses on bark and outdoor objects.","action":"Scrape egg masses into soapy water in winter; use burlap bands on trunks in spring. Outbreaks usually collapse from disease within a few years.","profile":{"origin":"Europe, North Africa, and temperate Asia.","arrival":"In 1869 an amateur entomologist named Étienne Léopold Trouvelot brought egg masses to his home in Medford, Massachusetts, hoping to breed a hardier silk moth. Some escaped from a window. Within 20 years they were defoliating the town, and they have been spreading west and south ever since.","impact":"Caterpillars prefer oaks and strip entire forests bare during outbreaks, which recur every 8 to 12 years. Trees usually re-leaf but are weakened, and two or three consecutive years of defoliation kill them, especially in drought. Long Island's oak-dominated pine barrens are prime habitat.","cost":"Tens of millions of acres defoliated over the last century, billions of dollars in timber loss and control, and neighborhoods where caterpillar frass falls like rain for weeks.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Eastern tent caterpillar and forest tent caterpillar (native)","tell":"Tent caterpillars have a solid white stripe or a row of white keyhole marks down the back; spongy moth caterpillars have five pairs of blue dots followed by six pairs of red dots and no tents."}],"facts":["The name was changed from gypsy moth in 2022; spongy refers to the texture of the egg mass.","A fungus (Entomophaga maimaiga) and a virus now usually collapse outbreaks within a few years.","Females cannot fly; the species spreads when tiny caterpillars balloon on silk or when egg masses ride on cars and campers."],"longIsland":"Outbreaks hit the Central Pine Barrens and North Shore oaks periodically, most recently in the early 2020s. Scrape egg masses off trees and outdoor items in winter.","wiki":"Lymantria_dispar_dispar"},"life_stages":[{"key":"egg","label":"Egg masses","months":[8,9,10,11,12,1,2,3,4],"term":1,"value":7,"look":"Tan, felt-like oval masses about 1.5 inches long on bark, under limbs, on firewood, sheds, and outdoor gear.","action":"Scrape into soapy water. Each mass holds 500 to 1,000 caterpillars."},{"key":"larva","label":"Caterpillars","months":[5,6],"term":1,"value":6,"look":"Hairy caterpillars up to 2.5 inches with five pairs of blue dots followed by six pairs of red dots. In early May, tiny black caterpillars balloon on silk threads.","action":"Wrap trunks with burlap bands folded over; collect the caterpillars hiding under them at midday into soapy water."},{"key":"pupa","label":"Pupae","months":[6,7],"term":1,"value":4,"look":"Dark brown teardrop cases hanging by a few silk threads in bark crevices and under eaves.","action":"Crush them."},{"key":"adult","label":"Moths","months":[7,8],"term":1,"value":2,"look":"Cream-white flightless females laying eggs on trunks; brown males fluttering in zigzags by day.","action":"Nothing effective now. Note infested trees for egg-mass scraping this winter."}],"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/spongy-moth"},{"slug":"jumping-worms","common":"Jumping worms","scientific":"Amynthas spp.","inatTaxonId":364093,"kind":"other","status":"pest","why":"Asian earthworms that devour the leaf litter layer, turning forest soil into loose coffee grounds that native seedlings and ground-nesting bees cannot use.","identify":"Thrash violently like a snake when handled; smooth, milky-white clitellum (band) that fully encircles the body, flush with the skin, near the head.","action":"Do not share plants or soil from infested beds, buy bare-root or heat-treated compost, and clean tools and boots. There is no practical control once established.","profile":{"origin":"Japan and the Korean peninsula.","arrival":"Probably arrived in the early 1900s in soil with imported plants, and spread for a century through the nursery trade, in mulch and compost, and as fishing bait. They were largely ignored until the 2010s, when gardeners across the Northeast started noticing soil turning to loose granules.","impact":"They live in the top few inches of soil and devour the leaf litter layer in a single season, converting it to loose, dry castings like coffee grounds. That layer is where native seedlings germinate, where ground-nesting bees and salamanders live, and where most of the forest's nutrients cycle. Forests lose their understory; gardens lose their soil structure.","cost":"No effective control exists once they are established. The main cost is permanent loss of forest floor habitat and the spread through every plant sale and load of mulch.","lookalikes":[{"name":"European earthworms (nightcrawlers)","tell":"Nightcrawlers are sluggish and their saddle (clitellum) is raised, pinkish, and does not fully circle the body. Jumping worms thrash wildly, and the clitellum is flat, milky white, and goes all the way around close to the head."}],"facts":["There are no native earthworms in most of New York; the glaciers scraped them away, so every worm you see is introduced.","Adults die at first frost; the species survives winter only as cocoons, which is why they are so hard to spot in spring.","Heating compost or mulch to 104°F for three days kills the cocoons."],"longIsland":"Confirmed in gardens and parks across both counties. Buy bare-root plants when you can, share divisions with the soil washed off, and never move soil from an infested bed.","wiki":"Amynthas_agrestis"},"life_stages":[{"key":"cocoon","label":"Cocoons in soil","months":[11,12,1,2,3,4],"look":"Adults have died; mustard-seed-sized cocoons in the top inch of soil are invisible in practice. Infested soil looks like coffee grounds with no leaf litter.","action":"Do not move soil, mulch, or plants out of infested beds. Solarize compost under clear plastic."},{"key":"juvenile","label":"Small worms","months":[5,6,7],"term":1,"value":8,"look":"Small, pale, fast-moving worms that thrash when disturbed. The pale band has not formed yet.","action":"Hand-remove into a sealed bag."},{"key":"adult","label":"Adults","months":[8,9,10],"term":1,"value":2,"look":"4 to 8 inches, smooth and gray-brown, thrashing like a snake when touched, with a milky-white flat band circling the body near the head.","action":"Hand-remove into a bag and dispose in the trash. Report to iMapInvasives."}],"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/jumping-worms"},{"slug":"brown-marmorated-stink-bug","common":"Brown marmorated stink bug","scientific":"Halyomorpha halys","inatTaxonId":81923,"kind":"insect","status":"pest","why":"Agricultural pest of fruit and vegetables that swarms into houses each fall.","identify":"Shield-shaped, mottled brown, with alternating light and dark bands on the antennae and along the edge of the abdomen.","action":"Seal entry points in fall; vacuum indoor bugs. Not a garden emergency, but worth knowing.","profile":{"origin":"China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.","arrival":"First collected in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1998, having arrived in shipping containers a few years earlier. It spread through the Mid-Atlantic in the 2000s and caused catastrophic orchard damage in 2010.","impact":"It feeds on more than 100 plants, piercing fruit and seeds and leaving corky, dimpled damage. In natural areas it competes with native insects, and its sheer numbers in fall home invasions make it a nuisance pest.","cost":"The 2010 outbreak cost Mid-Atlantic apple growers an estimated 37 million dollars in one season. Homeowners spend on sealing and pest control every fall.","lookalikes":[{"name":"Native brown stink bugs and the spined soldier bug (a beneficial predator)","tell":"The brown marmorated has distinct alternating light and dark bands on the antennae and along the edge of the abdomen, and smooth (not toothed) shoulders. The spined soldier bug has sharp shoulder spines and eats caterpillars; leave it alone."}],"facts":["Marmorated means marbled, for the mottled brown pattern.","A tiny parasitic wasp from Asia, the samurai wasp, arrived on its own and is now spreading across the Northeast, parasitizing its eggs.","Squashing them releases a cilantro-like odor; vacuuming is better."],"longIsland":"Common in gardens and homes island-wide. Not a conservation emergency, but worth telling apart from the beneficial native predatory stink bugs.","wiki":"Brown_marmorated_stink_bug"},"life_stages":[{"key":"egg","label":"Eggs","months":[6,7],"term":1,"value":7,"look":"Clusters of 20 to 30 pale green, barrel-shaped eggs on leaf undersides.","action":"Crush or drop the leaf in soapy water."},{"key":"nymph","label":"Nymphs","months":[6,7,8,9],"term":1,"value":5,"look":"Early nymphs are red and black; later ones brown with banded legs and antennae, on fruit and vegetables.","action":"Hand-pick into soapy water."},{"key":"adult","label":"Adults","months":[9,10,11,3,4],"term":1,"value":2,"look":"Mottled brown shield half to three quarters of an inch with alternating light and dark bands on the antennae and abdomen edge. Swarm sunny walls in fall and appear indoors.","action":"Seal gaps around windows and vents; vacuum indoor bugs."}],"url":"https://www.pollinatehappiness.com/invasives/brown-marmorated-stink-bug"}]}