Officials in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have determined that certain species not native to the United States are at risk of becoming invasive should they enter this country. As part of its effort to prevent the introduction of invasive or potentially invasive weeds, the USDA maintains an official list of "federal noxious weeds" (FNW) (7 CFR 360.200 and 361.6). Many taxa on this list are currently serious weeds elsewhere in the world, and about two-thirds of the taxa are currently found in the United States. The list includes terrestrialterrestrial:
(adj) growing on land as opposed to living in water
, aquatic, and parasitic plants. Most of the FNW are angiosperms, but a few are aquatic ferns and one is a green algaalgae:
(n) (sing. alga) photosynthetic, eukaryotic, unicellular or complex multicellular organisms, mainly aquatic, lacking true stems, roots, leaves, conducting vessels, and complex sex organs
. Importation or transport across state lines of the taxa on the FNW list is prohibited.
The FNW species listed below are within genera included in this tool. Note that these FNW taxa may additionally be listed as noxious weeds in various U.S. states or in other countries.
You may also be interested in checking out ITP's Federal Noxious Weed Disseminules of the U.S. tool.
Alternanthera sessilis (Amaranthaceae) (temple plant)
Azolla pinnata (Azollaceae) (mosquito fern, water velvet)
Caulerpa taxifolia (Caulerpaceae) (Mediterranean cloneclone:
(n) a plant produced by asexual reproduction, e.g., from cuttings
of Caulerpa)
Commelina benghalensis (Commelinaceae) (wandering jew)
Eichhornia azurea (Pontederiaceae) (anchored water hyacinth)
Heracleum mantegazzianum (Apiaceae) (cow parsnip)
Hydrilla verticillata (Hydrocharitaceae) (hydrilla)
Hygrophila polysperma (Acanthaceae) (miramar weed)
Ipomoea aquatica (Convolvulaceae) (Chinese water spinach)
Lagarosiphon major (Hydrocharitaceae) (oxygen weed)
Limnophila sessiliflora (Scrophulariaceae) (ambulla)
Melaleuca quinquenervia (Myrtaceae) (melaleuca)
Mimosa pigra* (Fabaceae) (catclaw mimosa)
Monochoria hastata (Pontederiaceae) (monochoria)
Monochoria vaginalis (Pontederiaceae) (false pickerel weed)
Oryza longistaminata, O. punctata, O. rufipogon (Poaceae) (rice)
Ottelia alismoides (Hydrocharitaceae) (duck-lettuce)
Sagittaria sagittifolia (Alismataceae) (arrowhead)
Salvinia auriculata, S. biloba, S. herzogii, S. molesta (Salviniaceae) (giant salvinia)
Solanum tampicense (Solanaceae) (wetland nightshade)
Sparganium erectum (Sparganiaceae) (exotic bur-reed)
* On the federal noxious weed list Mimosa pigra is considered a terrestrialterrestrial:
(adj) growing on land as opposed to living in water
plant