Her purpose was to purchase plants and "grow them out" (in a locked, quarantine greenhouse), and then to verify the species of the plants she ordered and also check for "hitchhiking" plants which might have been included in her orders. She therefore scanned Internet web sites and ordered a number of aquatic and wetland plants; some of the plants she ordered are "listed" by various states and even by the federal government as "prohibited plants", but were nonetheless for sale by various companies; some of the plants are not yet listed by governments in the U.S. but are believed by plant experts to be invasive in the U.S.

Ms. Maki's study revealed that not only is it possible to easily purchase "Category I" prohibited aquatic and wetland plants over the Internet from domestic and foreign sources, but also she found that many of the plants were contaminated by the presence of additional, hitchhiking, invasive non-native plants. For example, her order for __________, an invasive plant itself in certain areas of the U.S., also included a handful of Salvinia molesta, a well-known truly noxious aquatic weed that has just recently begun to invade the rivers and lakes of the southern U.S. She's also received water lettuce, hydrilla and other noxious aquatic plants through the mail.


Click here for a full report on her findings.


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For more information about this fascinating study, contact Ms. Kristine Maki, 305 Alderman Hall, 1970 Folwell Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, or e-mail her here.