Links to related topics:

Introduction to Invasive Plants
A quick guide to removing invasive plants and replacing with native plants
Definition of invasive species and related terms

Information on Invasive Plants in Takoma Park

Clicking on the name of an invasive plant species will take you to more information about it.

Some of the links go to plant profiles that FONTT has compiled from several sources. Click FONTT Invasive Plant Profiles to access all these invasives profiles in one place.

For the invasive status of plants not listed below, scroll or jump to the Where to Look Up Invasives section.

*Indicates a link to the Plant Invaders field guide. The page numbers (“pg. 000”) indicate where in the guide to find the relevant information.

Where to look up invasive plant species

Unfortunately, the above list of invasives does not cover all the invasive plants that may turn up in a Takoma Park yard.

Click on the sources listed below to determine if another plant is invasive in our area or elsewhere. These sources in many cases also provide additional information on the invasives listed above.

The first two sources are easy to use but only list a limited number of invasives. If you don’t find the species that interests you in these sources, move on to the next two.

Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas: Many of the invasives in the section above link to this source. While it describes numerous additional invasive plants, the list is far from exhaustive. The Table of Contents lists the species by their common names; the index (pg. 198-200) lists them by their scientific names.

Maryland Invasive Species Council (MISC): The link goes to a list of 256 terrestrial plant species “known to cause environmental or economical harm in Maryland or the region and are therefore a significant concern to the Maryland Invasive Species Council (MISC), a group representing broad environmental and economic interests across the state of Maryland.” The list was last updated in April 2024.

Mid-Atlantic Invaders Tool (MAIT): This online interactive database is hosted by University of Georgia Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health with federal funding. It provides the most complete list of invasive plants, and plants at risk of becoming invasive, in Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. It gives basic information and numerous photos for each species.

However, the user has to look carefully at the maps provided to evaluate whether a plant should be considered invasive here. (Counties where the plant has been reported as invasive are colored green. Learn about EDDmapS.)

The Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States: This database is similar to MAIT but on a national scale.