Invasive plants regulated in Kansas (14 species, cited)

Invasive plants regulated in Kansas

Kansas lists 14 plants as noxious weeds under K.A.R. 4-8-44. The table below reproduces that list in full, showing each plant's status in the state's own words. Kansas's list is an agricultural noxious-weed law, which governs control and spread on farmland and rights of way rather than what a nursery may sell.

Compiled from the rule itself, retrieved July 20, 2026. Law changes; if you spot a listing we have wrong or stale, tell us at [email protected].

Regulated and invasive are two different findings, and this page shows them separately. 12 of the 14 plants below carry both: Kansas names them in statute and GRIIS lists them as invasive in the United States. The other 2 are regulated by Kansas without appearing on that register. The reverse is far more common still: most plants GRIIS calls invasive are named in no state’s statute at all and are sold freely, so an absent chip is never a clean bill of health.

Plant	Scientific name	Status	Kansas’s determination
Amur Honeysuckle	Lonicera maackii	Listed Invasive	Kansas lists Amur Honeysuckle under “Category C.”Plant instead: Western Hackberry, Rough-Leaf Dogwood, Trumpet Honeysuckle
Canada Thistle	Cirsium arvense	Listed Invasive	Kansas lists Canada Thistle under “Category B.”
Cutleaf Teasel	Dipsacus laciniatus	Listed Invasive	Kansas lists Cutleaf Teasel under “Category B.”
Diffuse Knapweed	Centaurea diffusa	Listed Invasive	Kansas lists Diffuse Knapweed under “Category A.”
Field Bindweed	Convolvulus arvensis	Listed Invasive	Kansas lists Field Bindweed under “Category C.”
Fuller's Teasel	Dipsacus fullonum	Listed	Kansas lists Fuller's Teasel under “Category B.”
Johnsongrass	Sorghum halepense	Listed Invasive	Kansas lists Johnsongrass under “Category C.”
Kudzu	Pueraria montana	Listed Invasive	Kansas lists Kudzu under “Category A.”Plant instead: Western Hackberry, Little Walnut, Western Soapberry
Leafy Spurge	Euphorbia esula	Listed Invasive	Kansas lists Leafy Spurge under “Category A.”
Lenspod Whitetop	Cardaria chalepensis	Listed	Kansas lists Lenspod Whitetop under “Category A.”
Nodding Plumeless Thistle	Carduus nutans	Listed Invasive	Kansas lists Nodding Plumeless Thistle under “Category C.”
Quackgrass	Elymus repens	Listed Invasive	Kansas lists Quackgrass under “Category A.”
Sericea Lespedeza	Lespedeza cuneata	Listed Invasive	Kansas lists Sericea Lespedeza under “Category C.”
Spotted Knapweed	Centaurea stoebe	Listed Invasive	Kansas lists Spotted Knapweed under “Category A.”

What the tags mean

Prohibited Restricted Listed

A legal status. Kansas names the plant in statute. Under a nursery rule that means it may not be sold, propagated, or moved; under an agricultural weed law it means landowners must control it. The cited rule says which, in Kansas’s own words, in the last column.

Invasive

An ecological finding, and a different question from the law. GRIIS — the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species — lists the plant as invasive in the United States. Most invasive plants carry no state listing at all and are sold freely, so a plant without this tag is not thereby safe, and a plant without a legal chip is not thereby harmless.

Where this comes from

Kansas listings: K.A.R. 4-8-44. Read the rule.
Invasive status: GRIIS, the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species, via GBIF. A scientific register with no legal force; it is cited separately from the statute above because the two disagree far more often than they agree.
Status wording: Each determination is written as a sentence, with Kansas’s own term for the plant reproduced verbatim inside it. The Prohibited / Restricted / Listed chips are Ezina’s normalisation across 42 states and are not the legal term.
Nativity: USDA PLANTS county distribution layer, surfaced through the county checker.

Regulated next door, but not in Kansas

Plants that two or more states bordering Kansas regulate, and Kansas does not. A listing is a legal act rather than an ecological one, so a plant can be a documented problem here and still be sold here.

Purple Loosestrife Lythrum salicaria regulated in Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska
Scotch Cottonthistle Onopordum acanthium regulated in Colorado, Missouri, Oklahoma
Giant Knotweed Polygonum sachalinense regulated in Colorado, Nebraska
Japanese Knotweed Fallopia japonica (potentially invasive weed) regulated in Colorado, Nebraska
Spiny Plumeless Thistle Carduus acanthoides regulated in Colorado, Nebraska

Questions

What plants are illegal to sell in Kansas?

Kansas's list is an agricultural noxious-weed law, which governs control and spread on farmland and rights of way rather than what a nursery may sell. 14 plants are named under K.A.R. 4-8-44. A noxious-weed listing does not automatically ban nursery sale, so check the rule itself before assuming a plant cannot be bought or sold.

Is my plant invasive in Kansas?

Search the table on this page, or enter the plant's name in Ezina's checker to get its Kansas status alongside whether USDA records it as native to your specific county. Every answer links the record it came from.

Does a plant missing from this list mean it is safe to plant in Kansas?

No. This page reproduces what Kansas regulates, and a state list is a legal instrument rather than an ecological verdict. Plenty of plants spread aggressively without ever being listed, and states add species years after the problem is documented.

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