Next loosestrife is already loose

From Mobile, Ala., at the Botany 2003 meeting

Water gardeners and aquarium enthusiasts need to be warned about recent escapees from their creations that menace wild wetlands, says a Florida botanist.

Rotala rotundifolia turned up uninvited last year in a northern Alabama pond, and it’s moving into Florida canals, according to Kathleen Burks of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in Tallahassee.