Did you know that plants can also be naturalized?

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The Men's Basketball World Cup is in full swing

Among them, the joining of "naturalized player" Li Kaier

It sparked widespread discussion among fans online

So do you know?

In fact, there is also a concept of "naturalization" in the plant world.

Naturalized plants are those that grow without direct human interference.

Able to be maintained for a long time (usually more than 10 years)

Self-replacing alien plants

There are two key words here

First, an alien plant

Secondly, it is possible to

Maintaining population self-replacement over a long period of time

So here comes the question

“Naturalized plants ” and “invasive alien plants ”

What is the difference between them?

Solidago canadensis

The relationship between the two can be summarized in one sentence: naturalized plants are also alien plants, invasive plants are harmful naturalized plants, and naturalization is the basic prerequisite for plant invasion.

For example, corn, potatoes, and tomatoes that we often eat are all naturalized plants. They are beneficial to us, and they will not reproduce on a large scale in nature and pose a threat to the survival of other plants. Therefore, they are not invasive plants. Common plants in Chengdu, such as Alternanthera philoxeroides and Eichhornia crassipes, are invasive plants.

Water hyacinth likes ponds, grows fast, and takes up the living space of other plants

In fact, there are many naturalized crops in our daily life . For example, sweet potatoes originated in America and were introduced to China in the Ming Dynasty; garlic originated in West Asia and Central Asia and was brought back from the Western Regions by Zhang Qian in the Han Dynasty; sword beans originated in India and were introduced to China in the Tang Dynasty. There are also eggplants, cucumbers, carrots, cabbages, peanuts, sesame seeds, grapes, pomegranates, walnuts, etc., countless of which are naturalized plants.

Naturalized crops

A complete list of naturalized plants is not only helpful for predicting and preventing plant invasions, but also plays an important role in understanding the degree of urbanization of a city. Generally speaking, the more naturalized plants there are in a region, the higher the degree of urbanization and the greater the degree of openness to the outside world; the naturalized plant rate (the proportion of naturalized plants in the original flora of the city) can be used as one of the indicators of urbanization or openness.

Scientific understanding of "naturalized" and "invasive" plants

In July, the Chengdu Conservation Area and Wildlife Conservation Center discovered a small clump of Flos fusilis during a field survey in Guixi Ecological Park. Existing research shows that Flos fusilis has been naturalized in Jiangsu, Fujian, Taiwan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Macau, and Hainan in China, but no information has been found on the naturalization of Flos fusilis in Chengdu.

The flower of the fuxi flower (the corolla is 6-8mm long) Photographed by Luo Yan

The genus Fuxionghua is a herbaceous plant belonging to the genus Changshajiu of the family Scrophulariaceae. Its stem base is branched and quadrangular; leaves are opposite, elliptical or ovate; flowers are solitary in leaf axils, sepals are ovate or lanceolate, completely separated, and arranged in a shingle-like manner; the corolla is tubular, yellow, and two-lipped; the capsule is oblong, yellowish-brown, and dehisces between the locules, with the fruit valves only slightly cracked at the top; the seeds are cylindrical, black, with reticular patterns on the surface, and without wings; the flowering and fruiting period is March to November.

In addition, its English name is "BabyJumpUp", which is very interesting in correspondence with the alias of Impatiens "Touchmenot" (Note: Touchmenot means don't touch me. When the fruits of Impatiens are ripe, they will burst with a light touch and eject the seeds. This is how it spreads its seeds). BabyJumpUp is used to describe the good feeling of stepping on it, which makes people want to jump.

Fushiki

The sedge plant is native to the subtropical and tropical regions of America. It likes to grow on lawns and roadside meadows. It likes a moist and fertile environment. As a naturalized plant, the sedge plant was first discovered in China more than 20 years ago, but current reports do not show that it has obvious harmfulness. Instead, it is considered to be an excellent ground cover plant in horticulture, which is easy to grow, grows fast, has a long flowering period, and is resistant to being trampled.

Alternanthera philoxeroides reproduces very quickly and becomes a disaster, which is very troublesome to remove.

Another type of plant, Alternanthera philoxeroides , which is more common in Chengdu, is native to Brazil and was introduced to China in the 1930s as pig feed. As its name suggests, Alternanthera philoxeroides prefers a humid environment, especially around water bodies. It grows quickly and can form colonies without maintenance. It is an excellent forage grass and can be eaten by humans in times of famine.

The signature skill of an invasive species is its extremely fast growth rate, which allows it to quickly invade and make it difficult for other species to take root.

From the pictures, we can see that there is no exposed land under the leaves of the water fern. It seems that the earth has been "swallowed" by the water fern. The water fern is like a yoke, clamping the water fern's "neck", making it almost impossible to expand outward.

It is worth mentioning that although invasive plants have a high risk of spreading, with the improvement of popular science and cognitive level among the whole people, people's vigilance against alien species has gradually increased. At the same time, the prevention and control efforts of relevant departments have been continuously strengthened. It is difficult for invasive plants to cause a major impact on our urban safety, so there is no need to panic.