Ipomoea triloba: an alien plant threatening many habitats in Turkey A. Yazlik 1 , _ I. € Uremis ß 2 , A. Uluda  g 3 , K. Uzun 4 and S. G. S ß enol 5 1 Faculty of Agriculture and Nature Sciences, D€ uzce University, D€ uzce (Turkey); e-mail: ayseyazlik@gmail.com 2 Faculty of Agriculture, Mustafa Kemal University, Hatay (Turkey) 3 Faculty of Agriculture, C ß anakkale Onsekiz Mart University C ß anakkale, C ß anakkale (Turkey) 4 Uygar Agricultural Engineering, _ Izmir (Turkey) 5 Botanical Garden and Herbarium Research and Application Centre, Ege University, _ Izmir (Turkey) Ipomoea triloba is a plant native to tropical America and has been observed in cotton fields in Antalya Province, Turkey. Ipomoea triloba was identified in 2014 after a warning from the Centre of the Farmers’ Union (Antbirlik). Subsequent field surveys showed that this plant has been considered as a weed by farmers in this region for the last two decades; it has spread in non-agricultural habitats but due to its limited presence did not receive much attention. The spread of I. triloba has increased over the last 5 years to such an extent that it cannot be controlled by existing methods including herbicides. It has established not only in agricultural areas but also in other habitats such as roadsides, irrigation channel edges and coastal regions. This paper provides the first botanical description report of I. triloba in the defined area, an evaluation of environmental and socioeconomic impacts, current status and management activities. Based on all available information the authors concluded that pest risk analysis should be conducted on I. triloba. Furthermore, it should be regarded not only as an environmental weed but also as an agricultural weed and kept under surveillance in Turkey. Introduction Morning glories (Ipomoea spp. L.) are the largest genus in the family Convolvulaceae comprising approximately 500– 650 species (Nimmakayala et al., 2011). The genus includes annual and perennial herbaceous plants, lianas, shrubs and small trees throughout the tropical and subtropi- cal regions of the world (CABI, 2018). To date three Ipomoea species are listed in the Flora of Turkey: Ipomoea imperati (Vahl) Griseb (syn: Ipomoea stolonifera (Cyr.) J.F.Gmelin), Ipomoea sagittata Poiret, Voy. Barb. and Ipomoea purpurea (L.) Roth (Parris, 1978; Aykurt, 2012). Ipomoea imperati, a native of North America, is found in coastal habitats in the Mediterranean region of Turkey as well as other Mediterranean countries (Parris, 1978; C ß akan et al., 2011; EPPO, 2017). Ipomoea triloba (although previ- ously identified as I. lacunose L.; Yazlık et al., 2013) was first identified in cotton and corn fields in the Western Mediterranean part of Turkey (Fig. 1) (Yazlık et al., 2014). Ipomoea triloba is native to the Americas (Austin, 1987); however, it has been mentioned that it mainly originates from the Caribbean (Austin, 1987). It has been recorded in non-tropical areas (Austin, 1987; Imada, 2012) and also as a naturalized non-native species in the main and north-wes- tern islands of Hawaii (Imada, 2012). Moreover, it has been described as an alien species in Iran and Israel (Joel & Lis- ton, 1986; Pahlevani & Sajedi, 2011). Recently there have been new records from Southern India (Sarvalingam et al., 2015) and Bangladesh (Sourav, 2016). Ipomoea triloba is recorded in some countries as an inva- sive plant (CABI, 2018) in many different types of habitats, in particular, disturbed ones such as arable fields, orchards, roadsides, wastelands, mining areas, coastal habitats, bush lands, cotton fields in Israel and ornamental gardens in Iran (Joel & Liston, 1986; Wu et al., 2004; Pahlevani & Sajedi, 2011; Liu et al., 2015; Omofomwan et al., 2016). Owing to the impacts of alien species on ecosystems, it is important to identify the places where they are located and their impacts and to raise public awareness in order to avoid adverse effects (Pergl et al., 2017). In addition, the invasive status of a species at a given locality should be based on measures of population growth and spread in the new region (Richardson et al., 2000; Py sek et al., 2004). Therefore, the current information on I. triloba is important for Turkey, and also for the whole Mediterranean Basin. The botanical description of I. triloba has not yet been submitted for the defined area in Turkey. Moreover, the impacts on habitats and respective areas have not yet been detailed. For these reasons, this study includes the current status and botanical description of I. triloba in Turkey, an evaluation of environmental and socioeconomic impacts, and current management activities. Materials and methods Herbarium samples of I. triloba were taken from two dif- ferent sites in Serik and Aksu districts of Antalya Province near the Mediterranean coast in July 2014. These sites were ª 2018 The Authors. Journal compilation ª 2018 OEPP/EPPO, EPPO Bulletin 0, 1–6 1 Bulletin OEPP/EPPO Bulletin (2018) 0 (0), 1–6 ISSN 0250-8052. DOI: 10.1111/epp.12496