MI Adds New Plant To Invasive Species Watch List

MICHIGAN — Michigan environmental officials added a new invasive plant to the state's watch list.

The new invasive plant is the Lesser celandine, which is a non-native, low-growing perennial plant in the buttercup family. It is most often found along streams and in forested floodplains.

Officials said the plant is a problem because it can reproduce in three different ways (seeds, tubers, or bulbils) and push out other native Michigan plants, such as spring beauties and trilliums.

The plants have heart-shaped leaves and glossy yellow flowers, but they are hard to control because they only live for a short time. They sprout in the spring, releases it seeds, and then dies and disappears before summer, officials said.

The plants have been spotted in certain floodplain forests in mid-Michigan, including some stretches of the Grand River watershed, officials said.

The plants were first brought to Michigan as a spring plant for private gardens, officials said.

"With the prioritization afforded by the watch list, we're hoping reports by partners and the public can help us understand how far the invasion extends so we can make the best decisions about how to steward our resources – both financial and natural," said Katie Grzesiak, terrestrial invasive species coordinator with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Officials said the best time to find the plant is in the early spring when it blooms yellow flowers. They asked anyone who finds the plant to report it through the Midwest invasive Species Information Network or on the app.

More information on identifying, reporting and preventing the introduction or spread of watch list species is available at Michigan.gov/Invasives/ID-Report/Watchlist.