Mile-a-Minute Vine (Persicaria perfoliata formerly Polygonum perfoliatum), an invasive Asian annual weed accidentally introduced from Asia into Pennsylvania, has been moving steadily northward. Until recently, the northern front of the invasion was southern New York State and southwestern Connecticut. In 2004 and 2005, populations were discovered in New Milford and Bridgewater, Connecticut. In 2007 two large populations were discovered in Newtown. There is also a very small population in Roxbury. So far, nothing has been reported between New Milford/Newtown and Greenwich/Westport.

Mile-a-Minute Vine (MAM) is a serious threat to agriculture, the economy, and the environment. It smothers fields, shrublands, and forest edges, killing most other vegetation. The vines can grow six inches a day and can climb more than 20 feet high, blanketing everything in sight.


Photographer: USDA APHIS PPQ Archive, USDA APHIS PPQ
http://www.invasive.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=1149040
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Yes, that is all MAM—covering the field and halfway up the trees.

MAM seeds are spread by birds, other animals, soil and water. The Newtown populations probably originated from seeds in soils brought in for landscaping. Water carrying seeds downstream can spread the populations with a terrifying speed. A Newtown official walked the Pootatuck River corridor in 2004 and saw no MAM plants. In 2007 MAM was found extending a mile or more down the river corridor, covering several acres of floodplain.

Plants grow almost anywhere except lawn, very dark forests, and in water. They are often found growing with other invasive plants, especially multiflora rose. Seeds germinate in early April. Plants grow slowly at first, then, depending on the growing conditions, begin producing seeds sometime between late June and mid-August. Some seeds don't germinate the first year - areas where Mile-a-Minute Vine is found will need to be monitored for several years.

Mile-a-Minute Vine is very easy to recognize. The leaves are equilateral triangles. There are tiny barbs on the stems. The plants have weak stems that clamber over trees and shrubs. The vines don't twine—they grow upwards, sticking to things with the tiny velcro-like barbs.

Mad Gardeners, Inc., has launched a public awareness campaign in Litchfield and northern Fairfield Counties and is trying to eradicate MAM in the New Milford/Bridgewater/Roxbury area. In 2007 Mad Gardeners raised enough money to hire college students to work on more than 100 properties, searching for and pulling plants. Most of the plants in known areas were destroyed before they produced seeds.

Please help keep track of this plant: report suspected sightings to knelson151@sbcglobal.net or donna.ellis@uconn.edu or the Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group at 860-486-6448. Somebody will check the identification and, if the plants are MAM, will advise you on what to do about them.

For more information about the project, contact: Kathleen Nelson, Chairperson, Mad Gardeners, Invasive Species Advisory Committee, 55 Mud Pond Road, Gaylordsville, CT 06755   •   860-355-1547   •   knelson151@sbcglobal.net

To contribute, send a tax-deductible donation check payable to Mad Gardeners' Invasive Species Fund to Angela Dimmitt, Mad Gardeners Inc., PO Box 146, Sherman CT 06784