Contact: Steve Bradt
steve_bradt@harvard.edu
617-496-8070
Harvard University

Purple Loosestrife (2 of 2)

Caption: Purple loosestrife is one of the worst invasive plant species in the northeastern United States, and has exhibited a remarkably favorable response to climate change. It now flowers three weeks earlier since the time of Thoreau. In many wetland areas it has crowded out native vegetation and competes for local pollinators like this monarch butterfly in the area of Concord, Mass.

Credit: Abraham Miller-Rushing

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Related news release: Invasive plants are beneficiaries of climate change in Thoreau's woods