May 7 (Thursday) 10:00am – 11:30am, Online Presentation: Fig Buttercup Must Die! with Janie Marlow and Dr. Bill Stringer (Professor Emeritus of Agronomy) of the SC Native Plant Society:  In March of 2013, a SC Native Plant Society member received a call from a birding enthusiast who reported what appeared to be an invasive plant in the Lake Conestee Nature Preserve (LCNP) on the Reedy River in Greenville.  When we investigated we were shocked to find huge areas of a very attractive flowering plant that were forming dense mats of ground cover.  It was identified as fig buttercup (FB), Ficaria verna.  A few Google clicks later, we found that FB was reported as highly invasive in the Northeastern states, and had been ruled to be illegal in several states.  This was the first report of FB in SC.  This was cause for great concern, because LCNP is largely floodplain, and is a premier birding site.  The best songbird habitats are botanical diverse, but FB appeared to be rapidly forming monocultures in LCNP.  We quickly decided to work to reduce or eliminate this invasive plant.  Seven years later, we are still locked in a struggle with FB. 

Please contact Nicci Hanewald at nherman@clemson.edu with any questions or if you would like information about joining the presentation. 

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