Site 4
Bradford Pear & Other Non-native Species settling in Kansas
Most people are very familiar with Bradford Pear trees growing in neighborhoods, lining streets, and being the landscape scene of businesses, churches, and community buildings in towns and cities. The one standing at this site is a “volunteer tree” where it started as a fruit/seedling eaten by a bird. Then, through bird feces dropped here at this site and took root in the soft, loamy soil near the pond.
However, this tree is not native to North America. Being native to China and Korea, the Bradford pear was introduced to the United States in the 1960’s as a callery pear for landscaping purposes. It was originally bred to be seedless and sterile, as well as to stay small in stature and be hardy. Meanwhile, in the sixty years that the Bradford pear tree had been cultivated in the U.S., it found a way to cross pollinate with other fruit bearing pear trees to produce fruit and seeds, which are then dispersed by birds. The Bradford pear is now considered an invasive tree in Kansas, because of how it quickly grows in natural areas, creates tight thickets, and leafs out so early in the spring that it shades out native plants from establishing themselves during the growing season. Bradford pears in natural areas alter the natural light and micro-climate of the land around the area it grows, let alone compete for the limited water available to plants.
Invasive species are flora or fauna that grow and disperse in a quick and aggressive manner that negatively impact the natural ecosystems or crowd out native species. The link below is the Kansas Midwest Invasive Species Information Network. It provides a listing, description, and tracking of all current invasive species in Kansas, as well as resource links to other state programs that educate the concerns of invasive species.