Alligator Weed: Alternanthera philoxeroides

Status: Invasive. Biocontrol efforts are in practice.

An Invasive Biocontrol Plant

This plant has been documented from Mississippi area. It a fairly common emergent plant species in the South and can be found easily in drainage ditches and lake edges.
Info:

Alligator weed provides us with a good example of an invasive weed that has been successfully managed through biological control programs. Take these numbers for instance. There were 97,000 problem acres of alligatorweed in the US in 1963; by 1981 there were less than 1,000 problem acres. Why did this happen? It was mostly the work of the following three biocontrol insects (introduced in that order).

Biocontrol insects:

1. Alligatorweed flea beetle (Agasicles hygrophila)
2. Alligatorweed thrips (Amynothrips andersoni)
3. Alligatorweed stem borer (Vogtia malloi) - as shown in the video.