From Seed to Seed:
Plant Science for K-8 Educators

Native or exotic?

Fortunately, the last few years have seen a resurgence in the popularity of "native" plants. Common sense tells us that native plants-those that have always grown in a particular habitat-are better adapted and will not cause trouble as some exotic plants have.

What might surprise you, however, is how few common garden plants are actually native to the United States. As we have already mentioned, the black-eyed Susan is from elsewhere, as are marigold, tomato, asparagus, and rhubarb. Even the honeybee-the insect that many important food crops depend almost entirely on for pollination-is exotic! In fact, the honeybee is a fairly recent introduction to North America. Europeans brought honeybees to the New World because they were efficient pollinators and, because of their social nature, were relatively easy to manage in synthetic hives. And they produced honey, to boot!

Although it may seem like a challenge to locate and use native plants in your gardening endeavors, it can be done. Many companies sell native seeds and plants for particular regions, and you can always contact your state's Department of Environmental Conservation for suggestions. This topic provides a wonderful opportunity for you to educate students about an issue. The National Science Education Standards require that students be introduced to environmental problems. After reading the above information about invasive plants, we think you'll agree that this is certainly an environmental problem worth noting!

Would you like to know more?
Additional Online Resources

• California Native Plant Society-Links to botany-related, K-12 grade resources.
  http://www.cnps.org:80/links/teacher_links.htm

• Ecological Society of America-Fact sheet on invasive plants.
  http://esa.sdsc.edu/invas3.htm

• Each region of the United States has at least one Web site devoted to locally invasive plants.