Top Ten Invasive Species of the South Texas Plains as listed by Texas Invasives website.
These plants have been identified as particularly worrisome terrestrial invasive species in the South Texas Plains ecoregion.
Giant reed - Arundo donax
Salt cedar - Tamarix ramosissima
King Ranch bluestem - Bothriochloa ischaemum var. songarica
Water lettuce - Pistia stratiotes
Chinese tallow tree - Triadica sebifera
Brazilian peppertree - Schinus terebinthifolius
Popinac - Leucaena leucocephala
Common water hyacinth - Eichhornia crassipes
Buffelgrass - Pennisetum ciliare
Chinaberry tree - Melia azedarach
Two good links about invasive species:
https://www.npsot.org/resources/invasive-plant-database/ check out the “More Invasive Resources” option
Salt cedar - Tamarix ramosissima. If you’re unfamiliar with salt cedar, (see photo at top) once you see it blooming, it’s easy to imagine why it was introduced from Eurasia in the 1800s as an ornamental landscaping plant – I’m not excusing it even though the blooms are beautiful and they attract many an insect. Salt cedar is also on the National U. S. Department of Agriculture invasive species list. More about this invasive species is at the pdf data sheet link here: https://tsusinvasives.org/home/database/tamarix-spp-
Chinaberry, Melia azedarach is a tree many a Texas boy grew up having fun with, especially the green fruit, which apparently made great ammunition for a slingshot. The tree has rapid growth, spreads rapidly and develops into thickets. The tree can reach heights of 50 feet. It can create monocultures and lower biodiversity in native ecosystems; also note, it is one of those that has allelopathic effects.
Chinese tallow, Triadica sebifera. I find little starts of Chinese tallow periodically in our yard and have had the identification verified in iNaturalist. An iNaturalist.org map shows hundreds of observations of Chinese tallow in the southeast quadrant of the United States.
The leaves are bright green in color, heart shaped. Sometimes they have an extended point, which resembles a sacred fig tree. Leaves turn yellow, orange, purple and red in the autumn. The leaf litter, making its way to ponds, negatively affects frogs, according to a USDA.gov Website.
Chinese tallow is native to eastern Asia (China), also called Florida aspen, chicken tree, gray popcorn tree or candleberry tree. It's fast growing and tenacious; a single tallow tree can produce nearly 100,000 viable seeds annually. The tree can quickly grow to 40 to 50 feet tall and 30 feet wide, outcompeting many native plants, according to the Texas Invasive Species Institute. Chinese tallow is invasive from the Carolinas and Georgia to California. More at this link: https://tsusinvasives.org/home/database/triadica-sebifera.
Tree Privet Ligustrum lucidum is sometimes called Chinese Privet, but Chinese Privet is L. sinense, also invasive. https://tsusinvasives.org/home/database/ligustrum-sinense
Vitex, known locally as Lilac chastetree, Vitex agnus-castus L. is not listed as invasive in the Rio Grande Valley, but it is in central and north Texas. Still, it is not native and with changing climate and all, you never know, so choose instead a blooming native shrub to attract butterflies and bees.
Giant Reed, Arundo donax.
Rubber Vine, Cryptostegia grandiflora
Purple nutsedge, Cyperus rotundus.
Spiny sow-thistle, Sonchus asper, may seem to be taking over your yard this time of year. It's not invasive, but it's not native, either. It has tiny little daggers on the stem and larger daggers on the leaf edges. Wear gloves if trying to pull it out of the ground. Try to rid your yard of these before they go to seed!
Here are some Links to a few of the invasive plants I’ve written about:
https://www.stbctmn.org/post/anita-s-blog-the-rain-is-gone briefs on Popinac, Kleberg bluestem, Guinea grass and red center morning glory
https://www.stbctmn.org/post/think-twice-when-a-pretty-vine-captures-your-attention three vines Rubber vine, Corona de Reina
Most recently, Brazilian peppertree recently. https://www.stbctmn.org/post/not-in-my-yard-please-pretty-plants-we-don-t-want-in-our-rio-grande-valley-habitat
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