Tallowtree Spread Increased by Hurricanes

Tallowtree Spread Increased by Hurricanes

"U.S. Forest Service data show tallow now spreading across 10 states. Its growth nearly tripled in Texas in the last two decades, and increased 500 percent in Louisiana, where its higher tolerance for salinity enables it to crowd out moss-covered bald cypress in swamps and bayous. Populations also are up along the Atlantic coast, from Florida to the Carolinas.

“Tallows take advantage of disturbances,” said Nancy Loewenstein, an invasive plant specialist at Auburn University. “Storms, floods, construction sites, logging sites, anything that disrupts the environment will give an invasive like tallow an opportunity to take over.”

James H. Miller, USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org

The help can’t come too soon for the keepers of America’s suffering forests. Tallows grow into fully mature trees in just three years, far outpacing native maples, oaks, cypress and elms. Their leaves are toxic to some animals, and they cast off litter that changes soil chemistry and disadvantages competitors.

“Chinese tallows are very competitive, and they have no natural predators here like in their native China,” said Karan Rawlins, an invasive species specialist at the University of Georgia’s Center for Invasive Species & Ecosystem Health. 'Very few if any insects recognize it as a food source, so it has basically become a super invader.'"

Read the full article by Stacey Plaisance in NWF Dailey News.