The sharp-edged water soldier plant, a risk to swimmers, now is fouling the Trent system

(ON) The Toronto Star, Emily Mathieu STAFF REPORTER

An aquatic invader is camping out on the banks of the Trent-Severn Waterway, and from the sounds of it, is getting very comfortable.

"We have been doing surveillance of this plant; it is the first known sighting in Canada," said Francine MacDonald, an aquatics biologist at the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters who is an expert in invasive species.

The new undesirable in her sights is called the water soldier, Stratiotes aloides.

It resembles an aloe vera or spider plant, but with one significant difference: "It is very sharp – just to pull it out of the water you have to put gloves on," said MacDonald.

The Trent-Severn batch was reported by a Hastings area resident last fall. He spotted a handful of the plants in 2007 and tried to weed them out. But the water soldier sprung back. Its ranks have swelled to the hundreds and there is a satellite group of similar size about two kilometres downriver.

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