ARE YOU AWARE OF THE INVASIVE DUNE PLANT CALLED BEACH VITEX?
I would say most are not. Though the plant was known over a decade ago, the education/outreach on this species has not been equal to the effort of lionfish.
Vitex beginning to take over bike path on Pensacola Beach. Photo credit: Rick O’Connor
In 2012 I was contacted by a Gulf Breeze resident who had the invasive vine – beach vitex (Vitex rotundifolia) growing on her property. They told me that had it under control but felt it was coming from Pensacola Beach. I checked the EDDMapS database and found only three records of the plant in the state of Florida. Two were in Jacksonville and one was on Pensacola Beach. So, I went to investigate.
It was there… and it was pretty bad. The front yard was about 25% covered with the plant but a side yard and the back yard were 100% covered. I surveyed other parts of Pensacola Beach and found the plant in other locations. If you remember from Part 1 of this series, if you cannot prevent the invasive species from reaching your location, the next thing is Early Detection Rapid Response (EDRR). This was definitely an EDRR species. We needed to get on top of this as soon as possible.
In 2013 I conducted a survey of Pensacola Beach on my bicycle. I found eight more locations that had the plant. They were all on private property. I asked the homeowners if they knew how the plant got there. Some replied that they had planted it. Others said that they had hired a landscaper, and this was the plant they had chosen. Others had no idea where it came from. At the time, beach vitex was not listed as an invasive species in Florida. It is now and is also listed as a Florida noxious weed (you can no longer sell it). It was time for a Rapid Response – education about the plant, its invasiveness, and how to manage.
Beach vitex is native to the Pacific coast of Asia. There, it grows in coastal areas where there is plenty of open sunlight and well drained soils. It was brought to the U.S. as a possible ornamental plant in the 1950s. There are no records of what happened to those initial plants, but a second wave was brought to North Carolina in the 1980s. They decided to use the plant in dune restoration after a hurricane and that is when it “raised its ugly head”.
Beach vitex is allelopathic – it releases compounds that pull water away from the native plants causing their death – vitex then takes over the newly empty space – spreading across the beach. The plant has a taproot from which extend vines that run across the surface of the sand in almost a 360° pattern. It begins as a soft herbaceous vine, but with time, becomes woody and larger in diameter. It will eventually grow vertical and become more of a shrub. In the Carolina’s it took over the dune systems forming a thick monoculture resembling kudzu – giving it their local name “beach kudzu”. During the summer months the vines can grow very quickly – up to 20 feet in one week – covering the landscape. At the time they were concerned this would impact sea turtle nesting, now there is evidence that it has. It also impacted a state listed dune plant they were trying to protect. North and South Carolina formed a state task force to battle the plant and have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars doing so. When we first posted we had found it on Pensacola Beach I was contacted by the Carolina Task Force and advised to get rid of it as quickly as possible.
My most recent survey was conducted in the fall of 2023. Currently the plant has been found at 100 sites.
61 of these are on Pensacola Beach. 57 (93%) are east of Casino Beach and 32 of those (56%) are north of Via DeLuna Blvd.
25 are within Gulf Islands National Seashore and 24 of those are at Naval Live Oaks.
7 sites at Navarre with 6 of those on Navarre Beach.
3 sites are in Gulf Breeze proper.
2 sites are on Perdido Bay.
2 sites are on Perdido Key.
At this time 74 of the 100 sites have been treated or removed.
36 of those 74 sites (49%) the plant has not returned. Treatment continues on the other 38 sites.
39 of the 61 sites on Pensacola Beach are private property, and it is up to the homeowner to manage the plant. Florida Sea Grant continues to hold community events to manage the 9 public sites on Pensacola Beach.
The most recent EDDMapS database shows that beach vitex occurs in two other panhandle counties. These include Okaloosa and Franklin. It is very possible they occur in others, but surveys have not been conducted.
Methods of managing this plant vary. Small, individual plants can be successfully removed by hand with no regrowth. Small patches can be removed to the taproots and those can be spot sprayed with herbicide. Large patches are very difficult to remove by hand and herbicides are recommended.
If you have questions as to whether or not you have beach vitex in your area, or need advice on how to manage it, contact your county extension office. It is EDRR time.
It’s a national program where volunteers gather at a public space to help remove invasive weeds. In many cases they target one specific species. This year in Escambia County we plan to target beach vitex on Pensacola Beach. If there is not an event in your community, you can still participate by removing invasive weeds from your own private property. Here is how…
Target one specific species. Maybe Chinese tallow, Japanese climbing fern, or other possible invasive weeds in your community. If you are not sure which weeds are invasive, check with your local county extension office.
Read how to best manage. Each species may use different methods and herbicides to treat. Maybe you do not want to use herbicides, not a problem, by visiting the website of the University of Florida’s Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, you can find fact sheets that will give you not only the different herbicides that can be effective, but other non-herbicide management ideas.
Decide what you are going to do with the weeds afterwards. Fragments and seeds from these weeds can generate new populations. You make sure you dispose of the plant properly to not create a bigger problem.
Pick a nice day, collect all your supplies, and do it.
Let us know! Contact me (Rick O’Connor roc1@ufl.edu) and let us know which species you removed and how much.
If you are in Escambia County and want to participate in our event this year, we will be removing beach vitex from public areas on Pensacola Beach. You will need gloves, loppers or clippers, and a 5-gallon bucket. Here is our schedule…
Oct 4 12:00pm Quietwater Boardwalk. Meet at the seashell.
Oct 12 12:00pm The Bike Path near the Sugar Bowl. Meet at parking lot 27A (Allen Levin Way).
Oct 18 12:00pm The sewer lift station on Via DeLuna just west of the west entrance into
Sugar Bowl.
Oct 25 12:00pm Bike Path near Portofino. Meet at parking lot 27B.
If you plan to come to one of these, let me know! Rick O’Connor at roc1@ufl.edu.
Vitex beginning to take over bike path on Pensacola Beach. Photo credit: Rick O’Connor
During the spring and early summer beach vitex is not in seed and this is a good time to remove this invasive plant from your property. This time of year, the leaves have their unique blueish-green coloration, allowing them to stand out from other plants on your lawn, and soon will also have their lavender flowers. It will appear as a series of vines running across the surface of the sand extending from a central taproot.
Beach vitex expands it’s woody rhizomes aggressively; it can actually grow over sidewalks.
Photo: Rick O’Connor
To remove it you begin at the end of the vine away from this central point and slowly, carefully pull it from the sand, cutting it into two-foot sections to make it easier to bag. The vine may have smaller secondary roots extending from it that you have to carefully remove as well. If you are lucky, and the plant is relatively small, you may be able to pull all of the vines and the taproot with no tools. But if the plant is more established, the texture of the vine may become more woody and you will need to use loppers (or clippers) to remove it. The same is the case with the taproot, you may have to use a shovel to get it completely out. If you cannot remove all of the taproot, you may have to spray the remaining section with an herbicide. All cuttings should be double bagged before disposing to reduce the chance of spreading by fragmentation.
Beach vitex (Vitex rotundifolia) was brought to the United States from Asia in the 1950s as an ornamental plant. In the 1980s the states of North and South Carolina used in dune restoration where it exposed its invasiveness. The plant quickly spread, killing off native vegetation, such as sea oats, and forming dense monocultures on the dune. As the plant matures it becomes more of a woody shrub and much more difficult to remove. The shrub blocks sunlight not allowing the germination of other plants and the vines can extended onto the beach impacting sea turtle nesting. We are not sure at this time how it may impact the beach mice found in Florida.
We are not sure when it was first introduced to Pensacola Beach, but it was first found in 2014. Since then, Florida Sea Grant has been able to identify 2 sites in Gulf Breeze, 1 at Ft. Pickens, 24 in Naval Live Oaks, and 57 sites on Pensacola Beach where the plant exists (or did exist). One Pensacola Beach, 54 of the 57 sites are east of Casino Beach. 22 of the 57 sites are on public lands, and with permission from the Santa Rosa Island Authority, Florida Sea Grant uses local volunteers to manage those. However, 35 are on private property and we hope those homeowners will take the initiative to remove the plant to help stop its spread.
If you have questions on identification or methods of management, contact Rick O’Connor at the Escambia County Extension Office – roc1@ufl.edu, (850-475-5230 ext.1111).
To let everyone know how the battle against this invasive plant in the panhandle is going
To encourage everyone along the coast to keep searching, reporting, and removing it.
Can you actually eradicate an invasive species?
MAYBE
But… you must find and begin to manage it early. What many call Early Detection Rapid Response (EDRR) – and beach vitex is just that in the state of Florida.
For those not familiar with the plant, it is called beach vitex (Vitex rotundifolia). It is native to the Pacific coast of Asia, extending from North Korea to Australia. This suggest that it can tolerate cold weather, something that has kept many south Florida invasive species at bay in the Florida panhandle, but not this one.
Vitex beginning to take over bike path on Pensacola Beach. Photo credit: Rick O’Connor
It likes dry sandy soils and open sunny areas – our beaches are perfect. It begins with a taproot and forms runners that cross the surface of the sand in all directions, ALMOST 360°, but not quite. The runners are herbaceous at first and form blueish-green ovate shaped leaves and a cluster of beautiful lavender flowers in the spring and early summer. As the plant grows it becomes more woody and can form a shrub growing between three and four feet high. In the fall, after the cold fronts begin, the flowers become small gray seed pods. Each pod contains four seeds, and the plant can produce up to one million seeds/m2. These are viable for several months and can tolerate salt water for that period as well.
The plant may have been introduced as early as 1955 but was certainly here by the 1980s. During that period the state of South Carolina decide to try it in dune restoration after a series of strong hurricanes. That is when it raised its ugly head and let us know that it is not a plant we want on our coast.
Beach Vitex Blossom. Photo credit: Rick O’Connor
It grows aggressively forming large monocultures within the dunes. It is allelopathic, meaning it releases chemical compounds that can cause the decline of plants around it, this would include our beloved sea oats. Being a taproot plant, not a fibrous one like the sea oat, the integrity of the dunes to protect from storms is weakened. Becoming a shrub, it can also shade the sand keeping other native plants from sprouting and could impact both the survival of sea turtle hatchings and the listed beach mice around the Gulf.
The plant was first reported to us in Pensacola around 2014 by a birding couple we know in Gulf Breeze, Florida. It was growing on Fair Point near their home. They told us they had it under control on their property but that it was most likely coming from Pensacola Beach on Santa Rosa Island – so, we took a look – and we found it.
Since that time, we have found it in other coastal counties along the Florida panhandle and are trying hard to (1) remove it as fast as we find it and (2) educate others so they can help.
We just completed our annual survey event we call HALLOWEED. We only surveyed Pensacola Beach and the portion of the Gulf Islands National Seashore called Naval Live Oaks in Gulf Breeze. Here are the results from the 2022 HALLOWEED…
12 volunteers worked between 2-4 hours logging 41 total hours last Friday.
We have updates on the Pensacola Beach Survey – Naval Live Oaks results coming soon!!
95 sites of beach vitex in the bay area
57 of those (60%) are on Pensacola Beach (surveyed)
25 (26%) are at Naval Live Oaks (will need to be updated)
6 (6%) are on Navarre Beach (were not surveyed)
3 (3%) are in Gulf Breeze (not surveyed)
2 (2%) are on Perdido Bay (not surveyed)
2 (2%) are on Perdido Key (not surveyed)
Of the 57 sites on Pensacola Beach…
30 (32% of the total; 52% of sites on Pensacola Beach) are on NE Pensacola Beach – north of Via DeLuna Drive – and east of Casino Beach
24 (25% of the total; 42% of sites on Pensacola Beach) are on SE Pensacola Beach
2 (2% of the total; 4% of sites on Pensacola Beach) are on NW Pensacola Beach
1 (1% of the total; 2% of the sites on Pensacola Beach) are on SW Pensacola Beach
All 3 sites on WEST Pensacola Beach are GREEN – have been removed and have not returned; no survey of the west end of the island was conducted today – but based on current log – there is no beach vitex on west end of Pensacola Beach.
Of the 54 sites on the east end –
34 (63%) are on private property
20 (21%) are on public lands
Of the private properties –
24 (71%) have been either completely removed or have been treated and in the process.
10 (29%) have not been removed or treated – it is not illegal to have beach vitex and is up to the homeowner whether they want to manage it or not.
Of the public lands –
15 (75%) have either been completely removed and have not returned; or have been treated.
5 (25%) have not been removed or treated – it is up to us to make this change – and we will next spring.
We do hope to get a survey of Perdido Key completed by the end of the year.
We are also planning another annual removal event we call WEED WRANGLE for early spring 2023. We will need volunteers help to do this. If interested in helping, contact Rick O’Connor (roc1@ufl.edu; 850-475-5230 ext.1111).
As for the rest of the panhandle here are the records in EDDMapS as of October 2022.
Escambia County FL – 44 records
Santa Rosa County FL – 4 records
Okaloosa County FL – 31 records
Walton County FL – 0 records
Bay County FL – 0 records
Gulf County FL – 1 record
Franklin County FL – 4 records
Wakulla County FL – 0 records
Jefferson County FL – 0 records
We are SURE this is under reported and we need your help to update these records as well as remove these plants before we are out of the EDRR phase and eradication is no longer an option. Again, contact me (Rick O’Connor) at the contact above if you would like to help.
Vitex beginning to take over bike path on Pensacola Beach. Photo credit: Rick O’Connor
Define Invasive Species: must have ALL of the following –
Is non-native to the area, in our case northwest Florida
Introduced by humans, whether intentional or accidental
Causing either an environmental or economic problem, possibly both
Define EDRR Species: Early Detection Rapid Response. These are species that are either –
Not currently in the area, in our case the Six Rivers CISMA, but a potential threat
In the area but in small numbers and could be eradicated
Native Range:
Beach vitex is native to the coastal shores of Asian countries bordering the Pacific rim. It is also found in Hawaii.
Introduction:
There are conflicting records as to when it was first introduced to the U.S. One record has it in the country as early as the 1950s. However, there are no records of plants from that stock still existing. Most records suggest the release of the plant occurred in the 1980s when it was brought to North Carolina as a potential ornamental plant. It was then used in dune restoration after a series of hurricanes and became a problem. Thus, it was intentionally introduced.
EDDMapS currently list 649 records of beach vitex. Most are in North Carolina. There are 82 records in Florida and 46 (56%) are in the Pensacola Bay area. We currently have 75 records from the Pensacola Bay area. Not all are reported on EDDMapS due to private property restrictions. Records do occur in coastal Alabama, Mississippi, as well as Okaloosa and Franklin counties in the Florida panhandle.
Distribution is most likely due to the high tolerance of salt water by the seeds and dispersal by currents, as well as intentional plantings by local landscapers and homeowners. Vitex rotundifolia is now a noxious weed in Florida and can no longer be sold.
Within our CISMA there are records in all coastal counties (Baldwin, Escambia, Santa Rosa, and Okaloosa)
Description:
Beach vitex is a perennial plant that initiates from a main taproot and extends herbaceous vines across the surface of the substrate in almost a 360° pattern. The vines can grow as much as 20 feet in length and become more woody with age. As the plant grows, secondary roots extend from each of the nodes from the above ground stems (vines) and becomes more of a shrub, reaching a height of about two feet.
The two-inch leaves are ovate in shape, a light green to blue-green color, and are aligned opposite of each other. They turn a reddish brown during the fall and winter and many plants will lose their leaves completely during this time.
The blossom is a lavender color and made of numerous small petals. The blossoms are present during the spring and summer. They will produce numerous charcoal gray fruits in fall and winter. Each fruit can hold up to four seeds. It has been reported that the plant can produce over 1000 seeds / m2.
Issues and Impacts:
After planting for dune restoration in North Carolina, the plant quickly became a monoculture. It is allelopathic creating a hydrophobic situation in the soil. This situation can cause the decline of native plants, such as sea oats (Uniola paniculata). As the plant becomes more of a shrub it decreases the amount of sunlight reaching the surface further decreasing the smaller native plants and the ability for many to germinate.
This altering of the native dune plant community can have potential impacts on the native faunal communities. There are concerns on its impacts to protected species such as beach mice and nesting sea turtles.
Having a taproot system rather than a fibrous one like the sea oat, can comprise dune integrity during tropical storms. It is known that these dune systems provide protection for natural and developed areas behind them.
Management:
Finding the plants early and removing by hand is the first and best option. The plant is relatively new to the panhandle area and smaller ones are often found. Once the small plants are found, you can simply cut the above ground vine into 2 foot sections and place in a trash bag – you should double bag this. Woody vines may puncture the bag so shorter sections may be needed for those.
Once you reach the taproot you may be able to pull it from the ground, or you may need to dig it out. This method works well in loose dry sandy soils, it may require more digging and cutting if soils are more compacted. If you cannot remove the entire taproot, we recommend spot spraying the remainder with glyphosate. Be careful not to over spray, glyphosate is non-selective and will kill any native plants it comes into contact with.
In cases where the patch of vitex is too large to remove by hand then chemical treatment will be needed. Several studies have been published as to which herbicides are effective. Imazapyr, Triclopyr, and Glyphosate are all products that have been used both in foliage application and cut stem with success. The exact concentrations vary with abundance of plants and surrounding habitats and re-treatments over a few years may be required. We recommend you reach out to your local CISMA or county extension office for more direct help on your situation.
For more information on this EDRR species, contact your local extension office.
