Mislabelling of aquatic plant species in trade
In 2020, a survey was conducted at 11 garden centres in Belgium specialized in water gardening. During this survey, 285 plant taxa were identified as being traded and of these, 118 taxa were mislabelled. Mislabelling may be a result of misidentification, misspelling of the species name and/or the use of a synonym. Mislabelling can cause problems as invasive alien plant species may be imported and sold in the EPPO region. The European Regulation 1143/2014 which entered into force in 2015 imposes legal bans on a number of plant taxa. In addition, in Belgium, a voluntary Code of conduct intended to prevent introduction of invasive plants through the horticultural trade has been implemented since 2009. The Belgium voluntary Code of conduct contains two lists of species (1) a Consensus list – species with a high negative impact which should not be sold and (2) a Communication List – species where caution is advised. The survey revealed that four Belgian Consensus List species and one Communication List species were available for sale (Table 1). In addition, three species from the European Regulation 1143/2014 (listed as species of Union concern) were still being sold (Table 1). All of the species listed in table 1, were consistently mislabelled with a synonym, or in the case of Cabomba caroliniana the epithet was missing. The study shows that surveys are essential to assess the effectiveness of the regulations and voluntary codes of conduct.
Table 1. Eight plant species found to be mislabelled in trade (* = EPPO Observation List; ^ = EPPO List of Invasive Alien Plants; ** EPPO A2 List)
Species | Mislabelled as | Belgium/EU Listing |
Azolla filiculoides (Salviniaceae)* | A. caroliniana | Communication List |
Cabomba caroliniana (Cabombaceae)^ | Cabomba | EU Regulation |
Crassula helmsii (Crassulaceae)** | C. recurva | Consensus List |
Cyperus eragrostis (Cyperaceae) | C. alternifolius | Consensus List |
Egeria densa (Hydrocharitaceae)^ | Elodea densa | Consensus List |
Erythranthe guttata (Phrymaceae) | Mimulus luteus | Consensus List |
Gunnera tinctoria (Gunneraceae)^ | G. manicata | EU Regulation |
Salvinia molesta (Salviniaceae)** | S. natans | EU Regulation |
Sources
Van den Neucker T, Scheers K (2022) Mislabelling may explain why some prohibited invasive plants are still being sold in Belgium. Knowledge and Management of Aquatic Ecosystems 423, 8.