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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Buffalo District is on a mission to fight hydrilla, an aggressive plant species that has wreaked havoc from Asia to every continent except Antarctica. "Hydrilla completely chokes out our waterways and impacts all the things we enjoy,” said Michael Greer, USACE Buffalo District project manager." It affects water quality, the economy, businesses, hydropower and flood reduction - ultimately our health and our wallets." Buffalo District’s main projects to eradicate hydrilla are at the Erie Canal and Tonawanda Creek, Tonawanda, NY, as well as on Cayuga Lake near Aurora, NY and Ithaca, NY. The District provides assistance on Pymatuning Lake which borders Pennsylvania and Ohio, and at Raystown Lake in south central Pennsylvania. Buffalo District is also lending expertise to a project on the Connecticut River. Funding for the project is available through the Corps of Engineers Aquatic Plant Control Research Program and Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
Native To:
Eastern Hemisphere; U.S. strains possibly originated in Asia (Balciunas et al. 2002)
Includes species listed as a Federal Noxious Weed under the Plant Protection Act, which makes it illegal in the U.S. to import or transport between States without a permit.
The section below contains highly relevant resources for this species, organized by source. Or, to display all related content view all resources for Hydrilla.
See also: Fact Sheets for more information about individual invasive species, including those listed as "Prohibited Noxious" and "Noxious" under the Alberta Weed Control Act
In online book: Bossard, C.C., J.M. Randall, and M.C. Hoshovsky (Editors). 2000. Invasive Plants of California's Wildlands. University of California Press. Berkeley, CA
University of Alaska - Anchorage. Alaska Center for Conservation Science.
See also: Non-Native Plant Species List for additional factsheets (species biographies) and species risk assessment reports of non-native species present in Alaska and also non-native species currently not recorded in Alaska (potential invasives).
See also: Problem Plant Control (scroll to Invasive Plants section) for more information to help you identify and control most common invasive plants in Missouri
See also: Maine Invasive Plants & Entire Series for entire series of 22 fact sheets and invasive plants brochure (available in HTML/PDF or for purchase)
Balciunas, J.K., M. J. Grodowitz, A.F. Cofrancesco and J.F. Shearer. 2002. Hydrilla. In: R. Van Driesche et al. (Eds.), Biological control of invasive plants in the eastern United States (FHTET-2002-04). Morgantown, West Virginia: U.S. Forest Service Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team.
Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Hydrilla verticillata. [Accessed Sep 10, 2014].
Masterson, J. 2007. Hydrilla verticillata. In: Indian River Lagoon Species Inventory. Smithsonian Marine Station.
