Title: Coast watch
Identifier: coastwatch00uncs_19 (find matches)
Year: 1979 (1970s)
Authors: UNC Sea Grant College Program
Subjects: Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology
Publisher: (Raleigh, N. C. : UNC Sea Grant College Program)
Contributing Library: State Library of North Carolina
Digitizing Sponsor: North Carolina Digital Heritage Center

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A . coastal menace is creeping onto shorelines along the Carolinas. 9) r7* & Like all crafty invaders, this plant travels well, conquers quickly and has a good disguise. Its seeds and broken stems float on ocean currents to root and colonize new areas. It grows rapidly, choking out native plants. And its beguiling purple flowers will turn heads this summer — some out of admiration for its unique blooms, others out of loathing for its tenacious assault on North and South Carolina dunes. Nicknamed "Kudzu of the Coast," beach vitex (Vitex rotundifolia) has spread so far and so fast in the Carolinas that experts are pushing to have it listed as a Federal Noxious Weed. A deciduous, sprawl- ing shrub native to the western Pacific, beach vitex easily outpaces slower growing natives such as sea oats or the endangered seabeach amaranth, says Dale Suiter, wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Raleigh. "And it may out-compete other rare plants that are In 2003, Brabson was called to an unmarked nest in Isle of Palms, S.C., to help some wayward hatchlings confused by condominium lights. Brabson arrived to find a heartbreaking scene: the baby turtles had become tangled in the beach vitex mats. "They got all caught up and died because of dehydration," she says. ^1
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Op 4q not yet listed as threatened or endangered," he adds. Many sea turtle experts and volunteers also worry about the mat of tangled vines beach vitex forms along the soil. The plant can reach one to two feet in height and 12 feet in diam- eter, possibly putting sea turtle hatchlings at risk as they emerge from buried nests. Although there are no research studies to document that problem, Betsy Brabson, a South Carolina resident and sea turtle volunteer, has witnessed the threat first hand. LEFT: Beach vitex can be identified in the spring and summer by its purple blooms and the spicy, eucalyptus-like scent of its leaves. RIGHT: Birds in North Carolina have been observed eating the fruits of beach vitex, possibly contributing to its spread. Saturating the South Scientists introduced beach vitex to the southeastern United States from the beaches of Korea in the mid-1980s, believing the plant could help stabilize dunes. There is still some debate as to how effectively the plant stabilizes and accomplishes that goal. "We know it has some bad habits," says Chuck Gresham, a coastal ecology and forest science researcher from Clemson University. "But we don't know if it is doing the job it was brought here to do." Gresham began trials on Pawley's Island, S.C., last fall to measure the recession of vitex- infested dunes versus those covered with native sea oats. Based on his conversations with island residents, Gresham speculates most people planted beach vitex there in the early 1990s, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rebuilt NATURALIST'S NOTEBOOK dunes destroyed by Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Sea oats were in short supply, he says, so many opted for beach vitex instead. As word traveled about its high salt and drought tolerances, so did the plant. To date, no one knows how far beach vitex has spread in the Southeast, says David Nash, the North Carolina coordinator for the Carolinas Beach Vitex Task Force. The task force includes representatives from federal, state and non-profit agencies focused on determining and controlling the spread of beach vitex in the Carolinas. Brabson is the coordinator for South Carolina. The plant has shown up as far north as Ocracoke Island, N.C., and as far south as Florida and Alabama, according to the task force. In North Carolina, heavy concentrations of the plant are found on Bogue Banks, including Atlantic Beach, Pine Knoll Shores and Emerald Isle. It also is found from Figure Eight Island to Wrightsville Beach, and on Bald Head and Oak islands. In South Carolina, most beaches in Georgetown County are saturated with beach vitex, especially Pawley's Island and Litchfield Beach. The plant also is well established in certain areas of Charleston County, including Isle of Palms and Folly Beach. Most nurseries in the Carolinas have stopped selling beach vitex, and many munici- palities are trying to contain or eradicate it. "Beaches are taking a 'no tolerance' policy toward beach vitex," says Brabson. In January, Georgetown County, S.C., passed the first county wide ordinance declaring beach vitex "highly invasive" and "a public nuisance." South Carolina's Folly Beach, Edisto Beach and Pawley's Island also have adopted ordinances regarding beach vitex, as have some North Carolina towns, including Bald Head Island and Caswell Beach. Continued Coastwalch I Spring 2006 I www.ncseagrant.org 27

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