I am working hard to turn my backyard into a wildlife haven full of native plants. As I come across anything non-native and especially if invasive, I pull it. Every year I add more and more natives to fill in the gaps.
This week I found numerous snowdrops growing in my backyard which are not native to my area. Typically I would dig them up but I noticed that iNaturalist has them listed as globally near threatened. Should I leave them be?
They’re very common as garden plant, so you can pull them, their status applies only to native lands. We have similar situation with Fraxinus pennsylvanica that is a thing that grows from every crack while being CR in their native area.
The CR listing for F. pensylvanica is pre-emptive, owing to the actions of the Emerald Ash Borer. At the moment, they’re still not that hard to find in Illinois, I believe, but that’s likely to change dramatically over the next 10 years or so.
Thanks! I found it odd that it would list both the conservation status and the fact that it’s introduced.
I read about the river red gum in Australia - threatened because the river is damned to grow irrigated cotton.
Meanwhile in South Africa it is an invasive alien.
iNat is international so you need to check the conservation status of a plant where you are.
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