Michigan seeks help tracking two invasive species

The state is urging awareness of two invasive species: A fast-growing weed that could eventually threaten Christmas tree farms and nurseries, and a colorful little fly that could threaten crops like grapes, apples and hops.

The state Department of Natural Resources, and Department of Agriculture and Rural Development recently confirmed the presence of the mile-a-minute weed — also known as Asiatic tearthumb — at the Whitehouse Nature Center of Albion College.

The barbed vine, native to Asia — including India and the Philippine Islands — had been unknown in the state, according to The Detroit News.

It can enshroud juvenile trees and shrubs.

Also, after confirming that three dead spotted lantern flies were found on shipments of products to the state in recent weeks, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is asking freight carriers, warehouse workers and delivery drivers to be on the lookout for the insects.

Spotted lantern flies suck sap from plants and secrete large amounts of a sticky, sugary liquid, honeydew.

The result can be black, sooty mold that kills plants, fouls surfaces, and attracts hornets, wasps and ants.

Patterns on spotted lanternfly’s wings

No live lantern flies have been found in the state.

“The mile- a- minute weed, we are really concerned about; it can spread rapidly and one of the things threatened would be Christmas tree farms,” said Joanne Foreman, coordinator of the Invasive Species Program for the state.

“It produces a lot of fleshy fruit that is attractive to birds and mammals, so that suggests a very easy spread even from long distances away from original plants,” Foreman said.

Doug White, a professor of ecology at Albion College, discovered a patch of the mile-a-minute weed Oct. 3 in a forest opening while surveying house wrens.

“I’m not normally out there in October. But we color-banded nestlings this year, and I was following the fledglings,” said White, whose said his dissertation was on bird-dispersed fruits.

“I saw these purple and blue fruits on a plant, and I was curious.”

After taking photographs and doing some research, White realized what it might be and contacted the state.

The mile-a-minute weed is an annual vine that can grow up to six inches in a day, 25 feet in six to eight weeks.

Its light green leaves are shaped like equilateral triangles, state officials said, and both the stems and leaf blades are lined with small, recurved barbs that help it climb over other vegetation

It buds small white flowers in spring and eventually pea-sized blue fruit in midsummer.

Often, circular leaves, ocrea, grow from the stems below the fruit, they said.

The mile-a-minute weed grows in open areas, like roadsides, banks of rivers and streams, the edge of forests and along fence lines.