"At the recent ASHS Summer meetings all the talk was about that the US is looking to follow the lead of two stupid countries, Australia and New Zealand, who currently operate a most restrictive control system for the importation of non-indigenous species. All the usual garbage is spouted about making sure they don't become invasive (most of us would love orchids to become invasive)"
Living in California, the danger of invasive nonnative plants is very obvious, and cannot be downplayed. The list of plants which are currently displacing native plants, reducing habitat and food for native animals and degrading agricultural land is huge. Eucalyptus species, Acacia species, Pampas Grass, Scotch Broom, Spanish Broom, Vinca Major, Vinca Minor, Algerian Ivy, Himalayan Blackberries, Senecio ("German Ivy"), Centranthus ruber, Star Thistle, are just a few in California. European Bittersweet, and Kudzu are a couple I know of in the East, but I am sure the list is much longer.
The notion that Orchids could become invasive or noxious weeds seems far fetched, but Zeuxine strateumatica has apparently established itself in Florida, and Epipactis helleborine has managed to spread across the entire country. The latter can be found in a surprising range of conditions in California; garden beds, lawns, roadside ditches, woodlands, dry slopes, and scrublands. The danger of nonnative orchids doing the same widespread damage as Eucalyptus or Pampas Grass is probably slight. But the possibility of them displacing native orchid species, and driving them towards extinction (given the other pressures on them) is worth considering. I have seen huge drifts of E. helleborine in a roadside ditch in one location, and given the number of seed pods they produce, it is worrisome. I like Epipactis h., but would rather see our native Epipactis gigantea, and Calyso bulbosa thrive, both in habitats that E. helleborine enjoys.
Past experience with invasive nonnative plants and animals shows we need to be more careful in the future. I have no doubt any new restrictions on plant importation will be a pain in the as for us all, but they are not necessarily "garbage".
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