Have You Seen This Wavy Leaf? Report it!

Wavyleaf basketgrass (photo from Wikimedia) 6 August 2026 Have you seen this plant? Its wavy leaves are nothing like the plants I’m used to in Pennsylvania so I was surprised when I saw it at Bear Run Nature Reserve in late May. Was it a new wildflower? No! This is wavyleaf basketgrass, an extremely invasive plant that is just starting to take hold in Pennsylvania. This month the Pennsylvania iMapInvasives Program is holding a statewide blitz to find it so we can beat it back before it covers the state. I learned about it on The Allegheny Front. Wavyleaf basketgrass held in the hand (photo from WIkimedia) Wavyleaf basketgrass (Oplismenus undulatifolius) doesn’t look very grassy, but it’s a perennial grass native to Eurasia. It spreads in North America by hitchhiking on people and animals that are moving through the forest. Where did this invader start and where is it now? Wavyleaf basketgrass was first found in North America in Howard County, Maryland in 1996 and spread quickly into…