Backyard and Beyond

One strategy for taking over the world is just to produce massive amounts of your kind. Some of ’em are going to take. Sometimes a whole lot of them are going to take. Here are the reproductive agents of two introduced species that have become invasive in our part of the world:Water chestnut, devil pod, water clatrop, Trapa natans. Masses of the floating seedpods were cluttered along the wrackline at Little Stony Point. I’ve noted them before; the form fascinates me.
Same location. A thick patch of Japanese Knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum) was still pendulous with thousands of three-winged achenes. This plant also reproduces by spreading rhizomes, so it’s got a couple of ways of taking over. While a torment to many (botanists, gardeners, farmers, etc.), knotweed does have one redeeming virtue: its flowers produce nectar that makes for a very tasty honey.