These plants are nonnative and aggressively spread, causing damage to Ontario’s environment. Find out more and how to report sightings at https://www.ontarioinvasiveplants.ca/invasive-plants/species/
Lesser celandine (Ficaria verna) is not listed in Haliburton Flora, nor would we want it to be. It’s very invasive and can quickly carpet a wetland, choking out the native plants. My sister lives near a park where the entire riverbank for a hundred feet or more – the whole floodplain – is filled with …
Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) is the most common locust tree in Ontario by far, although you may find a couple other species. When Haliburton Flora was compiled, they only found two of these on the west side of the county. It’s one of the thorny trees, although not as large of thorns as its relation …
Dead nettles (Lamium spp.) look like stinging nettles before flowering, but they don’t have the sting, hence the dead. Some of the species could be confused with other mint family plants; a common example being henbit and purple dead nettle resembling ground ivy/creeping charlie. It won’t take long in a foraging meme group to find …
Creeping bellflower (Campanula rapunculoides) is an invasive nonnative. It’s the most common of a handful of nonnative bellflowers around Ontario. You’ll mostly spot it on banks and grassy roadsides. It was uncommon when Haliburton Flora was compiled, but is probably fairly common now. It was called ramps in English kitchen gardens, back in its heyday. …
If you spend any time in public parks and woodlands you may be familiar with the notorious garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata). While there are numerous nonnative plants in Ontario that are spreading into wild spaces, plants like garlic mustard, creeping jenny, dog strangling vine, “bamboo” that’s actually Japanese knotweed, and Lily-of-the-valley are some of the …
Goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria) was rare when Haliburton Flora was compiled, in one spot even. It was on an open damp roadside, an escapee from cultivation – a mere hint of how invasive this plant would become. Now you can find it taking over lawns and parks. It’s even crept into the west side of Algonquin …