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Tag Archives: non-native invasive plant

Springtime invasives

22 Sunday Mar 2026

Posted by sconzani in flowers, spring

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Tags

invasive plant, non-native invasive plant, Three-cornered leek, Allium triquetrum, Spanish bluebells, Hyacinthoides hispanica

Yes, the sight of a large field of flowering bluebells is the epitome of springtime but not when they are Spanish bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica), which are highly invasive non-native plants, and I do wish people in their home gardens and local authorities in public parks would stop their mass plantings of this species, especially if the area is near a woodland. As well as being invasive and out-competing native British bluebells, Spanish bluebells will also hybridise with them thus threatening the genetic integrity of the native species.

And the same goes for Three-cornered leeks (Allium triquetrum). They do look attractive, and many people who don’t know their plants well get one whiff of these plants and think they are Wild garlic (Allium ursinum), but Three-cornered leeks are another highly invasive non-native plant that will spread like wildfire if left unchecked. In fact, they are now such a problem that they are listed in Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, making it an offence to plant or cause them to grow in the wild.

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Winter heliotrope

12 Friday Jan 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, parks, plants

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Tags

Alexandra Park, Dingle Park, non-native invasive plant, Petasites fragrans, Winter heliotrope, winter-flowering plant

Officially, Winter heliotrope (Petasites fragrans) is a non-native invasive; unofficially, I think it’s got a rather lovely flower, which is particularly nice to see in the dead of winter, and its vanilla smell is divine.

180112 winter heliotrope (4)

According to Mabey’s Flora Britannica, it was brought to Britain as a garden plant in 1806, and the GB non-native species secretariat website states that it was first recorded in 1835 – presumably they mean the first record of it straying outside the bounds of the gardens where it had been planted. Though native to the Mediterranean and North Africa, it’s made itself at home in Britain, where it favours roadside verges, woodland margins and rough grassland. It seems very adaptable: in my local area, it favours sloping banks, a sunny slope in Dingle Park and a very wet and shady, steeply sloping streamside in Alexandra Park.

180112 winter heliotrope (1)
180112 winter heliotrope (2)
180112 winter heliotrope (3)

It can be difficult to get rid of because it grows very readily from the smallest discarded stem, sending its ‘roots’ (actually underground stems called rhizomes) spreading horizontally in all directions. Sneaky!

180112 winter heliotrope (5)

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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