EPPO Global Database

EPPO Reporting Service no. 11 - 2005 Num. article: 2005/174

A survey of weeds that are increasingly spreading in Europe


A Europe-wide survey was conducted by sending questionnaires to weed scientists in order to evaluate currently troublesome weeds and those which may cause problems in the future. Recipients were asked to list species that are spreading and cause problems in agroecosystems and to rate these according to three scores (degree of weediness, degree of spread potential and degree of control success), with three levels for each score (low, medium and high). In all, 281 species were reported from 26 European countries (Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom and Ukraine). Most of them were annuals (48%), followed by perennials (34%) and biennials (14%). Among these 281 weed species, the 15 most troublesome (either indigenous or alien to Europe) have been listed for each crop system defined in this survey. In the table below, the EPPO Secretariat has extracted only weed species which were considered as alien.

Alien troublesome weed species
Crop systems
Amaranthus chlorostachys
Vineyards
Amaranthus paniculatus
Cereals, root crops, vegetables and ornamentals, orchards, vineyards
Amaranthus powellii
Fodder plants and pastures, grain legumes, root crops, vegetables and ornamentals
Amsinckia micrantha
Fodder plants and pastures, grain legumes
Asclepias syriaca
Grain legumes
Conyza albida
Grain legumes, root crops, orchards
Conyza bonariensis
Cereals, grain legumes, root crops, orchards, vineyards
Conyza sumatrensis
Vineyards
Crepis aspera
Vineyards
Duschesnea indica
Fodder plants and pastures
Erigeron annuus
Fodder plants and pastures, root crops, vegetables and ornamentals
Euphorbia nutans
Orchards
Heracleum mantegazzianum*
Orchards
Matricaria matricarioides
Grain legumes, root crops
Oryza sativa
Cereals, grain legumes
Solanum physalifolium
Vegetables and ornamentals
Sorghum bicolor
Grain legumes, root crops
Sorghum nigrum
Grain legumes, root crops
Veronica persica
Fodder plants and pastures, grain legumes, root crops, vegetables and ornamentals, vineyards
Xanthium italicum
Fodder plants and pastures, grain legumes, root crops, vegetables and ornamentals

* on the current EPPO list of invasive alien plants

Sources

Weber E, Gut D (2005) A survey of weeds that are increasingly spreading in Europe. Agronomy for Sustainable Development 25, 109-121