For years now, efforts have been put forth by organizations such as the Missouri Department of Conservation in order to control the spread of non-native plants and trees within the area, especially those of the likes of the Callery Pear and the Japanese Honeysuckle.
With a new bill that is being pushed into the Missouri government, residents of the show-me-state could be seeing a far reduced number of these plants being sold. Introduced by State Representative Bruce Sussman of Central Missouri on January 16th, House Bill 2412 would ban the sale of five species of plants. These plants include the Callery Pear, Japanese Honeysuckle, Burning Bush, Climbing Euonymus, and Sericea Lespedeza.
If passed, this ban would go into effect in January of 2025. Nurseries who sell these banned plants could potentially have their licenses revoked by the Department of Agriculture.
More information on this bill can be found here.
