Wyandotte County, KS Invasive Plant Rules: Prohibited Species (2026)

Article XII of Chapter 8 defines weeds for enforcement purposes as a fixed list of named species: kudzu (Pueraria lobata), field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis), Russian knapweed (Centaurea picris), hoary cress (Lepidium draba), Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense), quackgrass (Agropyron repens), leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula), burraweed (Franseria tomentosa and discolor), pignut (Hoffmannseggia densiflora), musk (nodding) thistle (Carduus nutans L.), Johnson grass (Sorghum halepense), and multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora). Section 8-534 also folds in any poisonous-to-the-touch plant, including poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac, plus any dead organic matter or debris that creates a fire, health, or safety hazard.

The unified government's authority to force removal of these species traces to Section 8-531, which invokes K.S.A. 12-1617f and K.S.A. 2-1314 to let it require the cutting or destruction of noxious weeds and other uncontrolled vegetation on lots or pieces of land within the city. Section 8-533 backs that authority with findings that uncontrolled growth of these species creates traffic-sight hazards, accelerates fire spread, and breeds rodents, snakes, mosquitoes, and vermin, while diminishing property values.

Because the list sits inside the same article that makes excessive growth unlawful under Section 8-535, a property carrying any of these twelve named species is treated exactly like a lot with grass over eight inches tall: the clerk's annual public notice, the five- or ten-day cure period, and the cost-recovery lien process of Sections 8-536 through 8-543 all apply equally.