Rhododendron ponticum
SUMMARY
What's the problem?
- A killer of the countryside
- Outcompetes native plants and destroys habitats
- Invasive
- Loss of native wildlife
- Rapidity of spread
- Poisonous
- Difficult to kill
- Large root system
- Difficult to eradicate seed bank - may take years
- Unpalatable to herbivores
What are the legal implications?
- There are currently no legal obligations
What does it look like?
In Detail
This plant is responsible for the destruction of many native habitats and the abandonment of land throughout the British Isles.
Where conditions are suitable, Rhododendron will outcompete most native plants. It will grow to above head height, allowing very little light through its thick canopy thus preventing other plants from germinating.
Rhododendron Ponticum has large flowers, each of which can produce between three and seven thousand seeds. Each plant can therefore produce over a million seeds per annum!
Seeds can be transported by:
- Wind
- Movement of contaminated soil
- Poor management strategies
The seed can remain dormant in the soil for several years and will germinate when conditions are favourable.
Identification:
- Large oval evergreen leaves
- Purple flowers May/June