Gainesville, FL Invasive Plant Rules: Prohibited Species (2026)

Section 30-8.3.F.7 of the Gainesville Land Development Code sits inside the landscaping design-principles standards that apply to new development, qualifying expansions, and redevelopment that crosses the article's landscaping thresholds. The section prohibits installing a named list of invasive nonnative plant species, and separately prohibits installing any species labeled 'Prohibited' in the most recent Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) Invasive Species Assessment, so the list functions as a floor rather than the sole source of banned species.

The named list runs to roughly 30 species, including air potato, Brazilian pepper, catclaw vine, Chinaberry, Chinese privet, Chinese tallow tree, Chinese wisteria, climbing fern, cogon grass, coral berry, elephant's ears, glossy privet, golden raintree, hydrilla, Japanese honeysuckle, kudzu, mimosa, oyster plant, skunk vine, tropical soda apple, water hyacinth and wild taro. Four of those entries are bamboo species: arrow bamboo, golden bamboo, henon bamboo and palm leaf bamboo, all barred from new landscaping installation alongside the other listed plants.

A related duty in Section 30-8.3.F.8 requires an applicant for new development or redevelopment to remove invasive nonnative species already on the Florida Prohibited Aquatic Plants List or Florida Noxious Weed List from the property before a certificate of occupancy issues, following a submitted management plan with a timeline, success criteria and treatment methods, with herbicide work in wetland or upland set-aside areas performed only by a contractor certified in Natural Areas Weed Management by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. City staff can inspect treated sites for up to three years after completion to confirm the invasive population has not rebounded to cover more than ten percent of the previously infested area.