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Concept
Escaped plant
Summary
Escaped plants are cultivated plants, usually garden plants, that are not originally native to an area, and due to their dispersal strategies, have escaped from cultivation and have settled in the wild and bred there, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Escaped plants are purposefully introduced plants that have naturalized in the wild and can develop into invasive plants, the settlement of which is to be assessed as problematic. Other commonly used terms include escaped garden plant, garden escapee, escaped ornamental or garden refugee.
Some plants are valued as ornamental plants since they are very adaptable and easy to grow, and therefore would escape cultivation and become weedy in various ecosystems with far-reaching ecological and economic consequences. They can also develop into invasive intruders, especially in fragile or unstable ecosystems. Occasionally, their spread can even be traced back to botanical gardens. Therefore, escaped plants are the subject of research in invasion biology. Some plants escaped from cultivation so long ago that they are currently considered roadside plants or wildflowers.
All garden refugees belong to the so-called hemerochoric plants. This term is used across the board for plants that have been introduced directly or indirectly by humans. The term also includes the unintentionally introduced plants that were introduced through seed pollution (speirochoric) or through unintentional transport (agochoric).
Plants escape from gardens in many ways, but one main cause of spread from the ornamental garden is by green waste dumping in bushland and road reserves and as well as by birds or other animals eating the fruits or seeds and dispersing them. Others are accidental hitchhikers that escape on ships, vehicles, and equipment. Garden escapees can be adventive, which means they can be established in an inappropriate area of origin site by human influence.
Occasionally, seed contamination also introduces new plants that could reproduce for a short period of time.
Official source
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