Appearance of new weeds in Punjab

Weed monitoring and survey was conducted to detect appearance of new weed species. Ten new weed species namely Galium spurium Linn. (family Rubiaceae), Geranium nepalense Sweet (family Geraniaceae), Lamium amplexicaule Linn. (family Lamiaceae), Evolvulus nummularius (family Convolvulaceae), Euphorbia thymifolia Linn.(family Euphorbiaceae), Oenothera laciniata Hill (family Onagraceae), Soliva anthemifolia (Juss.) R. Brown (family Asteraceae), Verbesina encelioides (Cav.) Benth. and Hook. f. ex A. Gray (family Asteraceae), Nicotiana plumbaginifolia Viv. (family Solanaceae) and Portulaca oleracea L. (family Portulacaceae) have been recorded in the last decade from different places of Punjab State. Out of these, weed species namely, O. laciniata, L. amplexicaule, S. anthemifolia and G. nepalense were mainly observed inhabiting the crop fields. Three weed species namely, G. spurium, N. plumbaginifolia and V. encelioides were observed growing along roadsides, wastelands, canal banks and uncultivated areas. P. oleracea and E. thymifolia were observed growing on bunds of agricultural fields. E. nummularius is a serious weed of lawns and landscapes. These weeds have now domesticated in the studied ecological niche and may potentially harm the biodiversity of those areas.