Which weeds are banned?

[Mrs Trellis]

OH is burning off brambles and weeds on a bit of bank next to his veggie patch. It overlapped onto our land but isn't all ours. The owners of the field don't live here but might complain if they did visit.

OH says never mind because there are laws stating certain weeds should be destroyed. I'm just wondering which! I know friends were told they must cut the grass on some land they own because weeds could spread.

[ventodue]

Well, I'm not sure you can BAN a particular species of plant, Mrs Trellis [:)].  But you can authorise its destruction.

The national list of those plants thought worthy of this distinction is established by the Version consolidée au 22 septembre 2013 of this: 

"Arrêté du 31 juillet 2000 établissant la liste des organismes nuisibles aux végétaux, produits végétaux et autres objets soumis à des mesures de lutte obligatoire."

 

And there we find the following species listed, against which " ... la lutte est obligatoire sous certaines conditions":

·        Cirsium arvense (Chardon des champs/Creeping Thistle) ;

·        Cuscuta spp. (Cuscute/Dodder) ;

·        Orobanche minor, Orobanche cernua, Orobanche crenata et Orobanche ramosa (Orobanches/Broomrapes) ;

·        Viscum album (Gui/Mistletoe)

 

So maybe your OH has been meticulously aiming his destructive tendencies against these very species?  However, the more normal method is for their destruction to be authorised on an annual basis at département level via an arrêté préfectoral.  Here's the one for Creeping Thistle from L'Ain in 2008, for example:

http://www.ain.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/APdestruction_chardons.pdf

[andyh4]

I take it that your OH is aware that burning off the brambles or any sort of bonfire is illegal.  Yes no one here takes any interest either but a neighbouring commune's Maire is very hot on this and has instructed his police rurale to enforce.

[woolybanana]

Recently added to the list of illegal weeds os Normanusbarrelus, a weed that preys on others and spreads insidiously at night and demands much attention to get rid of it. Burning is best.

[idun]

looks like lillianmelkalus should be added to the list too as they certainly need weeding out!

[Pierre ZFP]

I did find a list once of things you are not allowed to plant  (can I find it again? No! )

but I do remember it had some obvious things like

Japanese Knotweed

Water hyacinthe

and (in Pas-de-Calais and perhaps other regions) Bamboo

This last one was a surprise to me as for years I had tried to grow a little clump of bamboo and failed, I'm probably the only person ever to kill bamboo! Still, I didn't feel so bad when I found out I shouldn't have planted it in the first place.

[Patf]

It's a lot to do with location. In some parts of the UK buddleia are invasive, and even rhododendron can be too. If they take over and smother other plants.

[woolybanana]

There is a general duty to take care of land in France, to keep it clean and tidy really and not to let it interfere with a neighbour. This is rarely enforced though I have met cases where an owner has been obliged by the commune to clear the undergrowth along his boundary as the weed was invading his neighbour's land.

In this area, thistles are definitely 'banned' in the sense that they have, by law, to be pulled out or cut off before they flower.

So, if you happen to kill a neighbour's weeds which are invading your plot, then that is probably ok. And if you have to go to the commune to get him to clear it, that is quite ok too.

[ventodue]

[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]I did find a list once of things you are not allowed to plant  (can I find it again? No! ) <snip>[/quote]

Interesting, Pierre ZFP.  I’ve not seen a list of plants you’re not allowed to plant in your garden - except Cannabis sativa, of course [:)].  Would love to know more, and how such a ban operates in practice …

 

As regards the natural environment, to the best of my knowledge, the only plants whose “commercialisation, l'utilisation et l'introduction dans le milieu naturel” is forbidden in France are two species of Water purslanes (or Water primrose), specifically Ludwigia grandiflora and L. peploides. 

 

The French vernacular name for these plants is Jussie à grande fleurs and Jussie rampante respectively.  Both are exotic invaders who proliferate quickly, blocking waterways and impoverishing the native flora and fauna.  They are prescribed by the Arrêté du 2 mai 2007 issued under Article L411-3 of the Code de l’environment.

 

On the other hand, in the UK there’s a whole list of invasive/exotic plant species whose  “introduction into the wild” is (theoretically) prohibited.  The best known are probably Himalyan Balsam, Giant Hogweed and Japanese Knotweed.

 

The prohibition is made under Section 14 of the Wildlife and Countryside Protection Act, and the species concerned are listed under Schedule 9, Part 2. (Go http://www.ukwildlife.com/index.php/wildlife-countryside-act-1981/schedule-9/schedule-9-part-2/).

 

Craig

 

 

[Pommier]

[quote user="Mrs Trellis"]OH is burning off brambles and weeds [/quote]

Your neighbour doesn't have a taste for blackberry and apple pies I hope!

[Mrs Trellis]

The blackberries weren't that great! The land around our bit is owned by the children of the farmer who sold off a bit to the people who built our house and the old farmhouse to Australians. They don't live very near.

I think OH was thinking of things like ground elder, dock, thistles.