Japanese Privet:  Ligustrum japonicum. Evergreen shrub to small tree. Leaves are dark green and opposite with smooth margins, lower leaf surface is lighter with prominent yellow vein. Fragrant white small flowers in dense clusters up to 8 inches in length, producing dark blue berries, that usually persist until winter. Similar in appearance to Glossy privet.

Glossy Privet:  Ligustrum lucidum. Fast growing evergreen tree up to 40 feet in height. Dense canopy with glossy dark green leaves having narrow, translucent margins. Fragrant small cream-colored to white flowers in large clusters, producing purple to black berries. Similar in appearance to Japanese privet

Chinese Privet:  Ligustrum sinense. Native to China and Europe and brought to the U.S. by the mid-1800s as ornamentals. Mostly evergreen, thicket-forming shrub having opposite, elliptical leaves with smooth margins. Fragrant, white flowers form in spring and produce clusters of dark purple berries.

Chinese Tallow:  Triadica sebifera. Introduced from China in the 1700s as an ornamental and for its waxy seeds. Deciduous tree reaching 60 feet in height. Readily invades open land and has distinct heart-shaped, alternate leaves that display brilliant fall colors. Attractive white berries persist on the tree in the fall and winter.

Chinaberry Tree:  Melia azedarach. Introduced from Asia in the mid-1800s as an ornamental tree. Dark green leaves are doubly compound, alternate, deciduous, and display bright yellow fall colors. Fruit is spherical, about ½" in diameter, yellow, persists on the tree in winter and is poisonous

Deep Rooted Sedge:  Cyperus entrerianus. Grows in robust loose clumps up to 40 inches in height, leaves are glossy and cross-sectionally V-shaped with purplish-black bases. Terminal inflorescence consisting of 5 – 11 groups of densely clustered greenish-white spikelets.

White Mulberry:  Morus alba. Known as white mulberry, common mulberry and silkworm mulberry, is a fast-growing, small to medium-sized mulberry tree which grows to 10–20 m (33–66 ft) tall. It is generally a short-lived tree with a lifespan comparable to that of humans, although there are some specimens known to be more than 250 years old. The species is native to China and India.

Callery Pear:  Pyrus calleryana. Callery pear is a small to medium-sized tree with a compact, symmetrical, pyramidal or columnar shape that spreads to become oval with age. Many cultivars exist with slightly different characteristics; all contribute to the species' invasiveness.

 Giant Reed:  Arundo donax. Corn like stalks growing in thickets to 20 feet tall. Alternate, corn like, lanceolate leaves. Flowers are dense plumes on ends of stalks. Introduced from Asia and Europe in 1800s.

Golden Rain Tree:  Koelreuteria paniculata. Goldenraintree grows 30 to 40 feet tall with an equal spread, in a broad, somewhat irregular globeshape. It is a fast grower and has great seed viability in warmer climates. Has the ability to outcompete desired native species.

Japanese Climbing Fern:  Lygodium japonicum. Native to Asia and Australia and brought to the U.S. in the 1930s as an ornamental plant. Climbing, twining, mat-forming fern that invades open forests, road edges, and wet areas. Leaves are mostly deciduous, opposite, compound, lacy and finely divided.

Giant Asian Dodder:  Cuscuta japonica. First detected in Houston in 2001. A parasitic yellow green vine that resembles spaghetti. It is able to attach itself to a wide variety of hosts, through structures called haustoria, including at least 20 different plant species in southern Texas ranging from herbaceous plants to woody ornamentals and trees. Dodder flowers in the spring and produces an abundant crop of seeds about the size of coffee grains. Seeds usually germinate the first year but some have remained viable in excess of 10 years.

 Nandina:  Nandina domestica. Introduced from Asia and India in early 1800s. Widely planted as an ornamental, but now escaped and spreading from around old homes. Evergreen, erect shrub to 8 feet in height, with multiple bushy stems that resemble bamboo. Glossy, compound green or reddish leaves, white to pinkish flowers in terminal clusters and bright red berries in fall and winter

Kudzu:  Pueraria Montana. Introduced from Japan and China in the early 1900s for erosion control. Deciduous, twining, mat-forming, ropelike woody vine and may completely cover large trees. Stems are covered with dense hairs. Leaves are alternate, compound and contain three leaflets

Chinese Wisteria:  Wisteria sinensis (and others). Introduced from Asia in the early 1800s as an ornamental. Deciduous, high-climbing woody vine with alternate, compound leaves up to 16 inches long. Large, fragrant, showy lavender to purple flowers in spring. Seed pod is typical of legumes.

Japanese Honeysuckle:  Lonicera japonica. Introduced from Japan in the early 1800s for erosion control and as an ornamental. Semi evergreen, woody vine with simple, opposite leaves. Produces white to yellow (sometimes pink) fragrant flowers from April through September.

 Tropical soda Apple:  Solanum viarum. Upright shrub with leaves like oak leaves with thorns, clusters of tiny white flowers. Green-to-yellow golf-ball sized fruit having white and green stripes. From South America.

Mimosa:  Albizia julibrissin. Brought from Asia in 1745 as an ornamental. Deciduous tree with alternate, doubly compound leaves and showy, fragrant pink blossoms. Leguminous seedpods persist during winter. Leaves resemble those of honey locust.

Asian Bamboos:  Phyllostachys and Bambusa spp. Native to Asia and widely planted as ornamentals and for fishing poles. Perennial grass forming jointed cane stems and reaching heights of 40 feet. Leaf blades are long and lanceolate with parallel veins and often are a golden yellow color. Dense thickets may form in pine understory in wet areas of East Texas.

Nightshade or Jerusalem-Cherry:  Solanum pseudocapsicum. Erect small to medium sized evergreen shrub. Dark green elliptic to lanceolate leaves 2 – 3 inches in length and ½ inch in width and wavy margins. White star shaped flowers appearing in summer and small cherry sized red, yellow or orange berry-like fruits, resembling small tomatoes, in fall and winter. Warning: this plant has high severity poison characteristic.