Parrots Feather

Parrot's feather - GBNNSSParrot’s-feather is a highly branched plant, named so because the leaves resemble green feathers. It is native to southern and central America and was brought to Britain in 1960 to be grown in gardens. Excessive plants dumped in the wild spread to make it an invasive species. It mainly grows in eutrophic conditions where a lot of other plants cannot survive. Parrot’s-feather has a wide range of negative impacts including the disruption of natural deposition, impacts on the movement/relationships of animals, shading and outcompeting other plants, and depletion of oxygen and increased nutrient loads in the water. It has been recorded once in the River Thame catchment at the pond at Stadhampton where it can still be seen today.