Invasive plant threatens bio-diversity

A highly popular and beautiful flowering plant introduced to Sri Lanka in recent years is propagating so fast, scientists and environmentalists warn that if not checked it could soon pose a serious threat to our bio diversity and ever decreasing forests.

The Government took a half-hearted step to check the spread of the locally known Valentine plant, when the Environment Ministry issued a communiqué early this month to coincide with Valentine’s Day calling on the public to eradicate it as it was an invasive plant posing a threat to our environment.

Concerned people ask why the Agriculture Ministry is silent on the matter as it has the power under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance to declare the shrub an invasive plant and even visit places it is grown and destroy it.

Attorney-at-law Jagath Gunawardena, who has been spearheading many a legal battle to defend the environment, told The Sunday Times that the plant Clerodendrum quadriloculare, native to Philippines and more commonly known in other countries as Philippine fireworks has undergone mutation in its reproduction practices in Sri Lanka and as a result it was propagating much faster than elsewhere.

The plant that usually spread through suckers that sprout profusely and by planting of cuttings, has begun to bear fruit in the last two to three years. The fear now is that the seeds can be spread widely by birds. In addition the plant, which earlier flowered between January and April, now begins to flower even a month earlier and some plants flower twice a year.

According to Peradeniya Botanic Gardens Director Dr D.S.A. Jayasundera, it is already considered in the Pacific region as an invasive plant due to its suckers sprouting profusely and eventually smothering other plants. The Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) project had given it a rating of seven out of ten in its risk assessment.

What is so dangerous about this plant is that it can tolerate extreme environments. It can tolerate drought for very long periods. A plant that is uprooted and kept without water for days can still grow, Dr Jayasundera said.

The Environment Ministry communiqué, among other things, urged the public to repeatedly uproot all suckers sprouting from roots of these plants already planted on the ground; if a shrub is planted in a flower pot to ensure that its roots do not spread to the ground; whatever that is removed to incinerate and not throw away and not to introduce any part of the plant to forests or any open spaces.