Combating The Chinese Tallow with Cypress Trees

 By: Natacha Bensoussan

Chinese Tallow Plant / Google Image

        The decorative Chinese tallow is a uniquely versatile plant native to China. Compatible with a wide range of soil, it thrives in direct sunlight, is indifferent to shade, and is often impervious to drought, flooding, and the occasional fire (USGS.gov). Resistant to the unwanted advances of creepy crawlers, mature plants produce bundles of seeds that can be harvested for large quantities of vegetable tallow, a waxy fat frequently used in soap production (USGS.gov). It smells delicious, sits pretty, and can grow as tall as thirty feet.
          Is the Chinese tallow a super plant, then? Quite the opposite. While these properties may seem magical in makeup, they combine to create mayhem in nonnative environments. Introduced to the Gulf of Mexico coast in the early 1900’s by the USDA, the plant is ideal in small patches as it has many uses – especially for cottage industries (RMRD 2012). Due to a lack of management and its fast growth, however, it has since become an invasive transformer species, spending its time monopolizing the land, displacing local wildlife, and altering the chemical make-up of soil so that other, native plants are unable to take root and prosper (Loretta, et al. 240). In Jean Lafitte National Park, for example, “it is threatening to squeeze out native species like cypress, oak and hickory from the park’s borders,” each of which are essential components of the delicate swamp ecosystem (RMRD 2012).                                                                  

Root System of a Cypress Sapling
 Jean Lafitte National Park

             I had little knowledge of Chinese tallow before I began volunteering with CRCL at the park in the Spring of 2016. Paired with rangers, we head out on two-day excursions to combat the unwanted invasion and help restore the Bayou Segnette. This is done by planting cypress saplings along the spoil banks. Armed with water boots, shovels, and peanut butter sandwiches provided by the peppy CRCL representatives, we travel by boat to preselected sites and plant anywhere between 600-800 saplings at a time. Once matured, CRCL is hopeful that the new cypress forests will create a canopy thick enough to block out sunlight and stop the unwanted growth of the Chinese Tallow (RMRD 2012). Without continuous efforts like this by organizations such as CRCL and its volunteers, the swamp and prairie lands along the Gulf Coast will inevitably be taken over.

The planting of these new cypress forests is two-fold. Not only is it an effective, organic way to combat the invasive species, but they will also help “strengthen the integrity of the canal and give it a better chance to survive storm surge and erosion” due to their intricate root systems ability to hold sediment (RMRD 2012). As Louisiana's coast faces severe threats due to land loss, this is a wildly beneficial bonus in its overall restoration. 

To get involved / volunteer with CRCL, sign up here: https://crcl.org/get-involved/volunteer.html

Sources

“Chinese Tallow: Invading the Southeastern Coastal Plain.” USGS: Science   for a Changing World. https://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/factshts/154-00.pdf. Accessed 28 Feb. 2018

"CRCL volunteers plant more than 700 cypress trees at Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve." MississipRiverDelta.org. 4 Jan. 2012. http://mississippiriverdelta.org/crcl-volunteers-plant-more-than-700-cypress-trees-at-jean-lafitte-national-historical-park-and-preserve/.Accessed 28 Feb. 2018.

Loretta L., Battaglia, et al. "Effects of Native Vegetation on Invasion Success of Chinese Tallow in a Floating Marsh Ecosystem." Journal of Ecology, no. 2, 2009, p. 239-246.