Buzz
In recent years, mainstream gardening has increasingly focused on cultivating native wildflowers, herbs, and other plants, driven by their environmental benefits.
If you’ve explored or experimented with this approach, you’re likely aware that the terminology and categorizations can be complex. Here’s a breakdown of the differences between native and neonative plants and why understanding them is crucial.
Defining Native Plants: What Are They?
When examining native plants and their ecological significance, this science-based definition from Sara Tangren, PhD, an expert in native species and former senior agent associate at the University of Maryland Extension, proves invaluable:
Native plants:
Grow naturally
Within their specific ecoregion and habitat
Over extended evolutionary periods
They have evolved to thrive in specific physical conditions and have developed symbiotic relationships with other species in their ecosystem.
Bonnie L. Grant, a certified urban agriculturist, provides an alternative perspective on native plants in an article for Gardening Know How, describing them as “species historically documented in a region, whether through contemporary observations or archaeological evidence.”
Defining Neonative Plants
Neonative plants are species that originally developed in one region but, due to shifting weather patterns or human intervention, relocated to a more suitable area where they could flourish, as Grant explains in the article. These plants are occasionally labeled as “native invasive species,” she notes.
The Ecological Influence of Neonative Plants
It’s important to note that neonative plants differ from “non-native” (or “alien”) plants, which are species introduced to a region by humans, either intentionally or unintentionally, as stated by the National Parks Service (NPS). Examples of non-native plants in the U.S. include tomatoes and petunias, which have been grown in certain areas for hundreds of years.
In contrast to neonative plants, only a small percentage of non-native plants are invasive. The NPS emphasizes that this distinction is why the terms “invasive” and “non-native” should not be used synonymously in the context of plant species.
As invasive species, certain neonative plants can threaten their new environments by outcompeting native species and destabilizing ecosystems, Grant explains. This disruption can lead to significant consequences, such as adversely affecting crops traditionally cultivated in the area.
