New records of alien plants – Ludwigia peploides (Kunth) P. H. Raven, Reynoutria sachalinensis (F. Schmidt) Nakai and Nicotiana glauca Graham in Croatia

Abstract

Invasive alien species Ludwigia peploides, Reynoutria sachalinensis and Nicotiana glauca, currently registered in Croatia with small number of records, were found during fieldwork undertaken mostly through the national monitoring of waters from 2018 to 2020. Ludwigia peploides was previously recorded only once in the River Ilova, the existing data for R. sachalinensis indicate only three confirmed findings, in Čabar, Karlovac and Donja Stubica, while the previous data for N. glauca include several localities in Central and Southern Dalmatia. The new records are as follows: two findings of L. peploides refer to the River Česma (Obedišće and Sišćani); three records of R. sachalinensis refer to Gorski Kotar (Gerovo and Čabar), while N. glauca is newly recorded in the Neretva River Valley (Krvavac) and the island of Krk. Despite their potential invasiveness, all three are still locally naturalized and currently their spread is very slow and limited in Croatia.