Potential Biocontrol of Multiflora Rose, Rosa multiflora

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Abstract
Multiflora rose is a serious weed pest in West Virginia. There are cultural and chemical means for control, but expense and environmental consequences often preclude their use. Limited information is available concerning biotic agents with potential for multiflora rose biocontrol. A literature search, contacts with scientists in Asia where multiflora rose originated and apparently is not a pest, and disease and insect surveys in West Virginia indicate this plant is healthy and, generally, pest free. However, three insects in West Virginia and one disease occurring in the midwestern United States were of special interest. The rose hip borer, Grapolita packerdi Zeller, which consumes the hypanthium tissues of the hips; the rose seed chalcid, Megastigmus aculeatus var. nigroflavus Hoffmeyer, which destroys the seeds within the achenes; and the raspberry cane borer, Oberea bimaculata Oliv., which kills canes, were found in West Virginia. The disease, rose rosette, not found in West Virginia, is killing multiflora rose in Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, and Missouri. There is little information on the biology and/or host ranges of these insects or the disease. However, finding three insects in West Virginia adversely affecting growth and/or reproduction of multiflora rose and learning of a disease that kills this plant suggest there are biotic agents that might help manage multiflora rose.

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