Puncturevine Found in Midway

Puncturevine has been found in Midway! Thank you to Richard Dunsdon for reporting this highly invasive species. It was found on a path to the rail trail. Puncturevine likes sandy, gravely soils and does well in hot dry climates. Midway and Grand Forks are prime locations for this invasive plant. There is a lot of puncturevine in the Okanagan and it likely arrived in Midway on the shoes or tires of someone who had been in the Okanagan. It is very important to check your shoes, tires, and pets to make sure you aren’t spreading invasive plants when you travel from trail to trail. Puncturevine is an annual, sometimes a biennial in warmer climates. Its native range is the Mediterranean region. It has a deep taproot with long trailing stems that branch out from the center. These stems create dense mats that can be two meters across. The leaves grow in opposite pairs of four to eight along the stem. The plant is covered in hairs. It has small bright yellow flowers with five petals. It blooms from June to September. One of its more distinguishing features is its seed pods. They are very hard and very sharp. The sharp spines can pop bike tires, poke through the soles of your sandals, injure your pets’ feet and in some cases have even been known to puncture light truck tires. Puncturevine spreads by seed. Each of the seed pods has five chambers with two to four seeds in each chamber. Each plant can produce around 5,000 seeds. The seeds can remain dormant in the soil for up to five years. The site in Midway was treated by Boundary Invasive’s staff. They pulled the plants and made sure no seed pods were left behind. There will be ongoing monitoring to see if any plants come back and there will be inventories done to see if there is more elsewhere. This is the second site that has been found in the Boundary. It’s been 12 years since puncturevine (Tribulus terrestris) was found and eradicated from Kerr Creek Rd. Over the years there have been many inventories to check for the introduction and spread of this highly invasive plant. It has serious impacts on agriculture and tourism. There are biological controls and effective herbicides for puncturevine. At this point we have so little of it that we are able to eradicate it by hand pulling. Please keep an eye out for this plant. You can help prevent the spread of invasive plants like puncturevine. If you see puncturevine please report it. Contact Boundary Invasive Species Society 250-446-2232, info@boundaryinvasives.com, www.boundarinvasives.com and on Facebook.