James Bennett,
If you drive along the Florida Turnpike you can see the Australian Pines that remain. They shed like crazy and when hurricanes hit Florida they topple onto the roadways, hence, the Florida TPK is getting rid of them AQAP.
They're majestic in height, but a nuisance.
The Maleluca was a great sponge for water.
Some thought that planting them could turn wet areas into dry areas. Golf course projects with wet areas were thought to be ideal for them, hence they were planted in abundance.
Brazilian Pepper trees (Florida Holly), almost a soft wood weed, which causes breathing problems and rashes round out the trees listed for eradication in Florida.
What's reallly interesting is that over the years the snow birds have planted Oaks, Olives, Plum and other non-indigenous trees on golf courses and in residential communities.
Then, Mother Nature comes along, decimates and eliminates man's foolish work, only to have man repeat the error of his ways.
Insurance carriers are ceasing to cover tree loss in Florida since many clubs put in for claims on trees they planted, many of which were imported from the north, and are not aerodynamically suited to handle hurricane winds.
I'll never understand why idiots come to tropical Florida and try to duplicate the foilage from New York and Chicago.
And, they continue to due so despite repeated admonitions from Mother Nature.
Some just don't get it.