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A weed is swallowing the Sonoran Desert
NON-NATIVE SPECIES
A weed is swallowing the Sonoran Desert
The invasive Stinknet plant fuels wildfires, irritates lungs and smothers native flora. ‘It’s everywhere’ and removal efforts in Arizona can’t keep up.
Zach Duncan and Samuel Shaw
Image credit: Zach Duncan
PHOTOS May 9, 2023
The buckets of moisture heaped on the West this winter have solved some problems while watering others. Billions of canary-yellow orbs now drape southern Arizona’s desert like a fungal carpet. Vast fields of stinknet, an invasive shin-high herb also known as globe chamomile, emerged in early spring, out-competing native plants with startling efficiency. And when these swaths of yellow dry out and turn brown this summer, they will become fuel for wildfires that, as botanists have discovered, only end up expanding their range. It’s a weed that helps create the void it fills.
Stinknet, which is native to South Africa, derives its name from the odor emitted by its resinous blooms. The invasive plant was first identified in Southern California in 1981, but those early populations grew slowly compared to those that sprang up near Phoenix a decade later. “Maricopa County is heavily infested now. Stinknet’s coming up through cracks in the sidewalk and now working its way down the I-10 corridor,” said Michael Chamberland, a botanist at the University of Arizona who studied the plant to better understand what the state is up against. He said researchers are now finding the noxious weed in Northern Mexico and Las Vegas. Stinknet is also becoming well established in Tucson, Arizona, though early detection there means conservation efforts still have a fighting chance, at least compared to Phoenix.
{snip}
A weed is swallowing the Sonoran Desert
The invasive Stinknet plant fuels wildfires, irritates lungs and smothers native flora. ‘It’s everywhere’ and removal efforts in Arizona can’t keep up.
Zach Duncan and Samuel Shaw
Image credit: Zach Duncan
PHOTOS May 9, 2023
The buckets of moisture heaped on the West this winter have solved some problems while watering others. Billions of canary-yellow orbs now drape southern Arizona’s desert like a fungal carpet. Vast fields of stinknet, an invasive shin-high herb also known as globe chamomile, emerged in early spring, out-competing native plants with startling efficiency. And when these swaths of yellow dry out and turn brown this summer, they will become fuel for wildfires that, as botanists have discovered, only end up expanding their range. It’s a weed that helps create the void it fills.
Stinknet, which is native to South Africa, derives its name from the odor emitted by its resinous blooms. The invasive plant was first identified in Southern California in 1981, but those early populations grew slowly compared to those that sprang up near Phoenix a decade later. “Maricopa County is heavily infested now. Stinknet’s coming up through cracks in the sidewalk and now working its way down the I-10 corridor,” said Michael Chamberland, a botanist at the University of Arizona who studied the plant to better understand what the state is up against. He said researchers are now finding the noxious weed in Northern Mexico and Las Vegas. Stinknet is also becoming well established in Tucson, Arizona, though early detection there means conservation efforts still have a fighting chance, at least compared to Phoenix.
{snip}
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Mother Nature is pissed and she's taking us out. I don't blame her one little bit. We're reaping what we've sown.
