''Lagarosiphon major'' is a monocotic

aquatic plant Aquatic plants, also referred to as hydrophytes, are vascular plants and Non-vascular plant, non-vascular plants that have adapted to live in aquatic ecosystem, aquatic environments (marine ecosystem, saltwater or freshwater ecosystem, freshwater ...

native to

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

. Common names include African elodea, curly waterweed, oxygen weed and South African oxygen weed. It is used as freshwater aquarium plant. It is an

invasive plant An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native speci ...

in some countries. In

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

it is listed on the National Pest Plant Accord and is classed as a noxious weed in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. ''Lagarosiphon Major'' was added to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

's List of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern on 3 August 2016. This means – amongst other things – that it is illegal to sell this plant in the whole of the European Union or to dump it in the environment.

Distribution

Ireland: Co.Galway in parts of upper Lough Corrib.Pybus, C. and O'Halloran, P. 2009. Distribution of some submerged aquatic macrophytes in the Eglinton Canal. ''Ir. Nat. J.'' 30: 51-53.

References

External links

Global Invasive Species Database

Species Profile - Oxygen Weed (''Lagarosiphon major'').
National Invasive Species Information Center,

United States National Agricultural Library The United States National Agricultural Library (NAL) is one of the world's largest agricultural research libraries, and serves as a national library of the United States and as the library of the United States Department of Agriculture. Locate ...

Hydrocharitaceae Flora of Southern Africa Freshwater plants {{Alismatales-stub