It’s hard to think of this plant, purple loosestrife, as an invasive species. Not only is it colorful but also bees love it and people planted it for the honey it produced.
"The honey looks like motor oil. It has a really neat sheen that no other plant provides but it is really invasive," said Dr. Donald Leopold, with SUNY-ESF.
Invasive because that colorful bloom produces so many seeds that it can take over acres and acres of wetlands.
"And every one of these flowers will turn into a capsule and this capsule will have dozens and dozens of seeds the size of poppy seeds so you can get hundreds of thousands of seeds per plant. Apparently ducks carry the seeds from one wetland to another," said Leopold.
Wetlands like Montezuma Wildlife Refuge were once overwhelmed by purple loosestrife.
"One of the seminal publications that came out decades ago talked about how seriously this plant was invading wetlands and had Montezuma on the cover as the worst case of purple loosestrife anywhere in New York state," said Leopold.
Today the Refuge has the plant under control and one reason is a biocontrol program using beetles and other insects that feed on purple loosestrife.
"And those insects are starting to spread. They decimate purple loosestrife. The insects attack the roots, the shoots and the flowers," said Leopold.