Practical information to identify and manage non-native, invasive plants
The Quiet Invasion:A Guide to Invasive Plants of the Galveston Bay Area
Exotic plants are non-native species of trees, bushes, and flowering or non-flowering plants that are cultivated in regions outside of their native range. In other words, exotic plants grown in the Houston-Galveston region are not native to southeast Texas. Exotic plants may originally hail from other parts of the United States or even other areas of the world such as Asia and South America. Many species of exotic plants are popular with gardening enthusiasts because of their beauty, availability, low cost, and ease of cultivation.
Characteristics that make exotic plants popular with homeowners can also lead them to have negative impacts on native flora and fauna. Hardiness and an ability to reproduce and spread can lead some exotic plants to be characterized as invasive. When established in natural habitats, invasive plants can out-compete native plant species and decrease the amount of available habitat for wildlife that depend on native plants for nesting and feeding.
While not all exotics are invasive, some exotic plants are extremely aggressive and can escape from the areas in which they are originally planted. Rhizomes of invasive plants can spread under fences while seeds or plant fragments can be transplanted by the movement of people and equipment, wildlife, water, and wind. Invasive plants can spread to roadsides, vacant lots, agricultural fields, and native habitats such as coastal prairies, wetlands, and riparian forests along bayou banks. Once established in natural habitats, invasive plants can be very difficult and costly to control or eradicate.