C.B.P. News Release

CBP Outruns Invasive Mile-a-Minute Weed

(Friday, March 20, 2009)

Wilmington, Del. – Competitive runners boast of four-minute miles, but they can’t keep pace with an invasive weed species that Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists intercepted at the Port of Wilmington, Del. Wednesday.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture botanist identified a weed seed, discovered during a CBP inspection of pineapples that arrived aboard the M/V Eurus Lima from Costa Rica, as Mikania micrantha, also know as the invasive Mile-a-Minute Weed.

This weed is noxious and can grow as much as three inches in 24 hours, and it crowds out native species. It is not allowed to enter the U.S. For more information please consult the Federal Noxious Weed Disseminules of the U.S., U.S. Department of Agriculture - PLANTS Profile, and Global Invasive Species Database Web sites.
( Federal Noxious Weed Disseminules of the U.S. - Mikania Micrantha ) ( U.S. Department of Agriculture - PLANTS Profile )
( Global Invasive Species Database - Mikania Micrantha )

“Our agriculture specialists immediately recognized this weed seed discovery as a potential threat to American agriculture and asked USDA for an urgent identification,â€