Coined the ‘Green Monster,' this invasive plant is ruining SC lakes. Here's what to know
As if hydrilla — the plant considered kudzu of the water — wasn't bad enough, now comes giant salvinia, which has been discovered in Lake Marion an...
As if hydrilla — the plant considered kudzu of the water — wasn't bad enough, now comes giant salvinia, which has been discovered in Lake Marion and biologists fear it's making its way downstream into the Cooper and Santee rivers. It's a water fern native to Brazil that sits on the surface of the water. Its scientific name says it all — salvinia molesta. It was first found in the United States in a small, private pond in South Carolina in 1995. But herbicides quickly killed it. Then somehow it appeared in Houston and then the Toledo Bend Reservoir, Texas' largest water body.