NC INVASIVE PLANT COUNCIL
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NC Invasive Plants

NC Invasive Plants List
To view North Carolina's list of invasive plants click on the button above.

The NC Invasive Plants List is maintained by NC-IPC.  It is a comprehensive list that was compiled through input from the NC Invasive Plant Council, NC Native Plant Society, NC Natural Heritage Program, USDA Forest Service, NC Botanical Garden, NCDA&CS Plant Protection, and the Piedmont Land Conservancy.

The NC Invasive Plants List ranks invasive plants by level of threat and also includes a "watch list".
Invasive plants are ranked as:
  • Rank 1:  Severe Threat
  • Rank 2:  Significant Threat
  • Rank 3:  Lesser Threat

The following is a set of fact sheets for many of the plants that are on the NC Invasive Plants List.  To view a specific fact sheet click on the name of the plant.

Plants are organized alphabetically by common name, and also by scientific name. 

Plants are also grouped by region.  Click on a region to learn more about the invasive plants found in that region, or scroll down to the lists.
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Fact Sheets for invasive plant species - alphabetically arranged by common name:

Picture
 This symbol means the species is recognized as a Noxious Weed ​by the State of North Carolina

A

Air Potato 
Picture
Alligatorweed

Asian Spiderwort
Asiatic Hawksbeard
Autumn Olive

B

Picture
Beach Vitex

Beefsteak Plant
Bicolor/Shrub Lespedeza
Bradford Pear
Picture
Brazilian Waterweed

Burning Bush
Bush Honeysuckle
Picture
Bushkiller

Butterfly Bush

C

Chinaberry
Chinese Lespedeza
Chinese Privet
Chinese Silvergrass
Chinese Tallow Tree
Chinese Wisteria
Chocolate Vine
Cogongrass
Common Chickweed
Picture
Common Reed

Picture
Creeping Water Primrose

Picture
Crested Floating Heart

D

Deep-rooted Sedge

E

English Ivy
Picture
Eurasian Watermilfoil

F

Fig Buttercup
Fragrant Honeysuckle

G

Garlic Mustard
Giant Hogweed
Giant Reed
Picture
Giant Salvinia

Golden Bamboo
Ground Ivy

H

Heavenly Bamboo
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Hydrilla

J

Japanese Barberry
Japanese Honeysuckle
Japanese Knotweed
Japanese Privet
Japanese Spiraea
Japanese Stilt Grass
Japanese Wisteria
Johnson Grass

K

Kudzu

L

Leatherleaf Mahonia

M

Picture
Mile-A-Minute Vine

Mimosa
Multiflora Rose

o

Old World Climbing Fern
Picture
Oriental Bittersweet

P

Picture
Parrot feather

Porcelain Berry
Princess Tree
Picture
Puncturevine

Picture
Purple Loosestrife

R

Reed Canarygrass
Russian Olive

S

Sacred Bamboo
Salt Cedar
Small Carpetgrass
Sweet Autumn Virgin's Bower

T

Thorny Olive
Tree-of-Heaven
Trifoliate Orange
Tropical Soda Apple

w

Wavyleaf Basketgrass
Winter Creeper

Y

Yellowflag Iris
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Yellow Floating Heart


Fact Sheets for invasive plant species - alphabetically arranged by scientific name:

A

Ailanthus altissima (Tree-of-Heaven) 
​Akebia quinata (Chocolate Vine)
Albizia julibrissin (Mimosa) 
Alliaria petiolata (Garlic Mustard)
Picture
Alternanthera philoxeroides (Alligatorweed) 

Ampelopsis brevipedunculata (Porcelain Berry)
Arthraxon hispidus (Small Carpetgrass)
Arundo donax ​(Giant Reed)

B

​Berberis (Mahonia) bealei (Leatherleaf Mahonia)
​Berberis thunbergii (Japanese Barberry)
​Buddleja davidii (Butterfly bush)

C

Picture
Cayratia japonica (Bushkiller)

Picture
Celastrus orbiculatus (Oriental Bittersweet) 

​Clematis terniflora (Sweet Autumn Virgin's Bower)
Cyperus entrerianus (Deep-rooted Sedge)

D

​Dioscorea bulbifera ( Air Potato)

E

Picture
Egeria densa (Brazilian Waterweed) 

​Elaeagnus angustifolia (Russian Olive)
Elaeagnus pungens (Thorny Olive)
Elaeagnus umbellata (Autumn Olive)
​Euonymus alata (Burning Bush)
Euonymus fortunei var. radicans (Winter Creeper) 

F

​Ficaria verna ( Fig Buttercup)

G

Glechoma hederacea (Ground Ivy) 

H

Hedera helix (English Ivy) 
Heracleum mantegazzianum (Giant Hogweed)
Picture
Hydrilla verticillata (Hydrilla) 

I

Imperata cylindrica (Cogongrass)
​Iris pseudacorus (Yellow Flag Iris)

L

Lespedeza bicolor (Bicolor/Shrub Lespedeza)
Lespedeza cuneata (Chinese Lespedeza) 
Ligustrum japonicum (Japanese Privet) 
Ligustrum sinense (Chinese Privet) 
​Lonicera fragrantissima (Fragrant Honeysuckle)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese Honeysuckle)
​Lonicera mackii (Bush Honeysuckle)
Picture
Ludwigia hexapetala (Creeping Water Primrose) 

Lygodium microphyllum (Old World Climbing Fern)
Picture
Lythrum salicaria (Purple Loosestrife)

M

Melia azedarach (Chinaberry) 
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese Stilt Grass)
Murdannia keisak (Asian Spiderwort) 
Miscanthus sinensis (Chinese Silvergrass)
Picture
Myriophyllum aquaticum (Parrot feather)

Picture
Myriophyllum spicatum (Eurasian Watermilfoil)

N

Nandina domestica (Sacred Bamboo)
Picture
Nymphoides cristata (Crested Floating Heart)

Picture
Nymphoides peltata (Yellow Floating Heart)

O

Oplismenus hirtellus ssp. undulatifolius  (Wavyleaf Basketgrass)

P

Paulownia tomentosa (Princess Tree)
​Perilla frutescens (Beefsteak Plant)
Picture
Persicaria perfoliata (Mile-A-Minute Vine)

​Phalaris arundinacea (Reed Canarygrass)
Picture
Phragmites australis (Common Reed) 

Phyllostachys aurea (Golden Bamboo)
Poncirus trifoliata (Trifoliate Orange)
Pueraria montana (Kudzu)
​Pyrus calleryana (Bradford Pear)

R

Reynoutria japonica (Japanese Knotweed) 
Rosa multiflora (Multiflora Rose) 

S

Picture
Salvinia molesta (Giant Salvinia)

Solanum viarum (Tropical Soda Apple)
Sorghum halepense (Johnson Grass)
Spiraea japonica var. fortunei (Japanese Spiraea) 
​Stellaria media (Common Chickweed)

T

Tamarix ramosissima (Salt Cedar)
Triadica sebifera (Chinese Tallow Tree)
Picture
Tribulus terrestris (Puncturevine) 

V

Picture
Vitex rotundifolia (Beach Vitex) 

W

Wisteria floribunda (Japanese Wisteria) 
Wisteria sinensis (Chinese Wisteria)

Y

​Youngia japonica ( Asiatic Hawksbeard)
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  • Home
  • About
    • Donate
    • Invasives 101
    • Membership
    • Board of Directors >
      • NC-IPC ByLaws
    • Contact
    • Listserve
  • News
    • Iverson Scholarship
    • Wildland Weeds Magazine
    • Calendar >
      • 2018 Workshop
  • NC Invasive Plants
    • Ficaria verna (Fig Buttercup)
    • Imperata cylindrica (Cogongrass)
    • Ligustrum sinense (Chinese Privet)
    • Lonicera japonica (Japanese Honeysuckle)
    • Microstegium vimineum (Japanese Stilt Grass)
    • Persicaria perfoliata (Mile-A-Minute Vine)
    • Pueraria montana (Kudzu)
    • Pyrus calleryana (Bradford Pear)
  • Annual Symposiums
    • 2025 Annual Symposium
    • 2023 Annual Symposium
    • 2022 Joint Symposium >
      • 2022 Speaker Presentations
    • 2021 Virtual Conference
    • 2019 Joint Symposium >
      • 2019 Presentations
    • 2018 Annual Symposium
    • 2017 Annual Symposium
    • 2016 Annual Symposium >
      • 2016 agenda
    • 2015 Annual Symposium >
      • 2015 Presentations
      • 2015 Agenda
  • Projects
    • Fig Buttercup Project
    • Eno River Hydrilla Project
    • Awareness Week
  • Awards
    • 2015 Student Competition Winners
    • 2015 EIA Award
    • 2014 EIA Award