Invasive Plants We Study: Leafy Spurge
Leafy spurge is an invasive Eurasian perennial introduced into the United States as a contaminant of crop seed in the 1880s and 1890s. It is an invasive plant that is poisonous to cattle and infests more than 2.7 million acres in southern Canada and the northern Great Plains. It typically forms monocultures and because of the latex that occurs in all parts of the plant, it is not consumed by naturally occurring herbivores. Leafy spurge is rapidly spreading and outcompetes native prairie and pasture plants, reducing wildlife habitat. USGS is using a variety of technologies to detect and map Leafy spurge infestations and is providing information on the effectiveness of various control methods.
Explore our science using the data below.
Explore our science using the publications below.
Changes in vegetation structure in seeded nesting cover in the prairie pothole region
Leafy spurge is an invasive Eurasian perennial introduced into the United States as a contaminant of crop seed in the 1880s and 1890s. It is an invasive plant that is poisonous to cattle and infests more than 2.7 million acres in southern Canada and the northern Great Plains. It typically forms monocultures and because of the latex that occurs in all parts of the plant, it is not consumed by naturally occurring herbivores. Leafy spurge is rapidly spreading and outcompetes native prairie and pasture plants, reducing wildlife habitat. USGS is using a variety of technologies to detect and map Leafy spurge infestations and is providing information on the effectiveness of various control methods.
Explore our science using the data below.
Explore our science using the publications below.