Native Vs. Non-native Plant Landscaping

[Roger Whitehead]

In article <382993FC.2D165885 at mail.vt.edu>, Frank Reilly wrote:
> What constitutes a Native Plant?  For example Phragmites australis is
> almost universally considered an invasive alien, yet fossil evidence
> points out that it was here long before any europeans intruduced it
> (more than 4,000 years).

Is ethnicity a factor? I imagine the question is whether it was brought in by 
human agency. Given the time quoted, that could easily have been by 
Amerindians.

Over here, a rough definition is that native plants are those that were here 
of their own accord before the English Channel was created (c. 10,000 years 
ago), naturalised ones were brought in after that by man but can reproduce 
over here, and aliens were brought in but don't reproduce naturally in our 
climate (e.g. walnuts).

Regards,
 
Roger
 
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Roger Whitehead,
Oxted, Surrey, England