Chris Hill wrote:

> I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong about the local
> situation, but there is plenty of bracken on this continent,
> flourishing in dry, disturbed, and grazed places. If you're
> not seeing it in Western Washington, perhaps it's the moist
> climate and lack of grazers (though I know Scotland tends to
> the moist, too)?


Scotland is plenty moist - some parts of the west coast are officially
defined as temporate rainforest - I can't remember how many feet ,NO not
inches :-), of rain per year, but believe me it is a number significantly
larger than 1 !!!!!!!!

Bracken is found everywhere. It seems to flourish best in areas which were
covered in trees - which includes almost the entire country, :-((. Maybe it
requires relatively rich soils. Anyway it is hell to get rid of. One solution
is to pull the stuff up, but given the infinite pool of spores wafting around
in the air every autumn it is a pretty thankless task. On the bright side
biological control offers an answer to at least contain the stuff and in
combination with other methods it may be effective in removing it. The key to
success is a moth, from Southern Africa I think, it's caterpillers eat the
core of the stalks and while this does not kill the plant it weakens it enough
so other methods, spraying etc are more effective. The biological control
studies have been completed and no nasty side effects has turned up. It may
even be in limited use as of now, if not certianly in the near future.

Apart from Broom (I'm really sorry about its origins), what other plants have
reached the population density and popularity of Starlings ;-). Are
Rhododendrons as much as pest here (in the US) as they are in Wales ? What
about Giant Hogweed, originally form Siberia, which produces a chemical which
burns the skin (sometimes badly) when exposed in sunlight ? Any Triffids ?

Stuart MacKay