Mile-a-minute vine invades

[ Originally published on: Friday, September 18, 2009 ]

GREENFIELD -- A troublesome invader has found its way to Adams Road and state workers spent part of Thursday afternoon pulling out the plants, which are considered an invasive species.

The Mile-A-Minute vines were spotted by a Greenfield resident, who said he read about them in Massachusetts Wildlife magazine.

The man, who did not want to be identified, contacted the Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program, and officials from the state quickly responded to attempt to get rid of the invasive weed that can smother native plants.

Native to Asia, the annual plant features triangular-shaped leaves. It was accidentally imported and known to be growing in Pennsylvania by the 1930s.

It has been found in Litchfield, Conn., as well as Milton and Falmouth in this state.

Bryan Connolly, a state botanist with Natural Heritage, said it was most likely transported by people in hay bales or something similar.

''They don't know they're transporting it,'' he said.

Connolly and Chris Buelow, an assistant restoration ecologist with Natural Heritage, said once the vine takes root and flowers, birds can eat its metallic-blue seeds and transport them to other areas.

The spiny vine grows extremely rapidly (hence its name) and gets up to 20 feet long, growing at rates of up to 6 inches a day. It is tolerant of several different types of soil and produces abundant fruit. Its seeds can sprout after being buried for up to seven years.

 

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