Is our state flower an invasive species?

 The Cherokee rose grows in the woods here in the Piedmont. The Legislature, thinking Rosa laevigata was a native plant, declared it the state flower of Georgia in 1916.

The Missouri Botanical Garden, which I think is one of the nation’s great centers of learning, says it’s a native of China and came to North America in colonial days. 

I think this is an interesting question: Is the state flower of Georgia an invasive species?

I think the notion of an invasive species is sometimes useful. It can also be problematic.

I understand what outraged ecologists mean when they are talking about invasive species. I understand why activists scour the woods rooting out invaders that are crowding out natives. I have seen kudzu kill tall trees. I think the decision to introduce kudzu was unwise. 

But even if we grant that kudzu is a clear invader, it seems to me that we quickly go from some clear examples to a range of cases that quickly become murky.

What about the species that came with human beings during colonial times? What of those the plants came with the first humans who came to the New World by following the Arctic or by crossing the Bering Straight?

Do viruses count as invasive species? If so, do they count as invasive only when they are introduced by humans or do they also count when they are introduced by migratory birds? And what should we say about the cases where it’s not clear how the invaders arrived?

Some of these views are impossible to hold unless we assume that man is separate from nature. It’s a view as old as Adam and Eve having dominion over the earth, but I think it’s 

There are different kinds of biological relations. The relationships between plant communities are important. But it seems to me that the relationship between a plant species and the combination of geology and climate is fundamental.

If a species grows as well in Georgia as it does in China or Vietnam, that fact takes logical priority over the fact that this plant is bound to clash with some other species that are already there. 

The notion of an invasive species is an interesting concept. But in many cases, I don’t think it’s a biological concept. If a species is the state flower of Georgia and an invasive plant in Texas, we might be discussing law, politics or sociology, rather than biology.

• Sources: The Missouri Botanical Garden’s account is here:

https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=286461

Here’s Rosa laevigata in a database of invasive species in Texas:

https://texasinvasives.org/plant_database/detail.php?symbol=ROLA