Representatives of the green industry said they would fund invasive genetic fingerprinting research recently during the Connecticut Invasive Plants Council debate. Paul Larson, president of the Connecticut Nursery & Landscape Association, told the Council that a proposal by Mark Brand of U-Conn to study the DNA of current invasive plants would answer many questions about where the invaders are coming from – original plants or new cultivars.
Connecticut industry professionals have estimated that several of the cultivars of barberry, burning bush and Norway maple are worth $15-20 million in sales in the state each year. Environmentalists would like to ban them.
The U-Conn study would cost between $10,000 and $20,000 and take a few years to complete.