U of M Announces Top 10 Plants that Changed Minnesota

CHANHASSEN  (AP) - The University of Minnesota has issued a list of the top 10 plants that have changed Minnesota and how its people live today.

After considering more than 100 nominations, a panel of experts gleaned the final list. Plants were judged by their impacts - positive and negative - in six areas: environmental, economic or industrial, cultural or spiritual, historical, sustenance, and landscape.

They decided the top 10 plants that changed Minnesota are: alfalfa, the American elm, the apple, corn, purple loosestrife, soybeans, turf and lawn grass, wheat, the white pine, and wild rice.

Plants that didn't make the list but that received a lot of discussion included: buckthorn, Eurasian milfoil, hostas, grapes, potatoes and sugar beets.

The list kicks off a year-long statewide educational campaign by the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved)