Federal Noxious Weed Disseminules of the U.S.

Fruits and seeds are the plant disseminules most responsible for the spread of weeds to new regions. These disseminules are frequently intercepted at U.S. ports of entry by quarantine officials, commonly as contaminants in commercial seed stocks, spices, foodstuffs, on trucks and containers, and in baggage.

This tool, Federal Noxious Weed Disseminules of the U.S. (FNWD), was developed to enable accurate identification of FNW disseminules and to assemble a set of high-quality images of the disseminules of all the FNW taxa.

The tool and its identification keys were designed to be used by officials at U.S. ports responsible for identification of plant pests. It may also be a useful resource for seed professionals and anyone else with an interest in, or a need to know about, the U.S. federal noxious weeds and what their disseminules look like.