A Reddit user found a new tree growing unexpectedly in their garden and checked in with the community at r/plants to help identify it. The news wasn't good.
"Does anyone know what this is?" the original poster wrote, alongside a trio of pictures.
The community was clear that the plant was a princess tree, also known as the empress tree.
The empress tree is native to China and Korea. Before the use of styrofoam, its seeds would be used as a packaging material. This use case would occasionally result in packages opening in transit and spreading the seeds abroad.
The empress tree grows incredibly fast: up to 20 feet high in its first year and with huge 39-inch-wide leaves. Some researchers have gone so far as to suggest that this high rate of growth could be employed specifically to sequester carbon.
Invasive species are a major issue worldwide. When a species gets moved away from its natural habitat, it's free of the checks and balances it evolved with. In a new home, it can rapidly outcompete native species for vital resources such as space, food, and water. As this monopoly grows, native species are pushed out of a habitat, reducing biodiversity and the ecosystem services we depend on.
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Some have estimated the cost of those ecosystem services lost to be hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Another estimate suggests invasive species have cost more than a trillion dollars over 50 years.
Reddit commenters offered the original poster a wealth of advice, including how to handle princess tree removal. Experts agree it involves a lot of hand-pulling.
"If it's a Princess tree do not just chop it, it's very invasive and it sprouts easily from roots," one community member said. "Pull every seedling you see by hand making sure to get as much roots as possible."
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