CLONAL DISPERSAL AND REGENERATIVE ACTIVITY OF <i>VERONICAFILIFORMIS </i>J.E. SMITH
The absence of sexual reproduction does not hinder the rapid expansion of Veronica filiformis J.E. Smith (Plantaginaceae). Both mowing and raking of lawns cause fragmentation of shoots of V. filiformis and increase the rate of its clonal dispersal. During the vegetation season, the diameter of a clone of this species can increase 25-fold, and the number of internodes can become 1-2 thousand times greater. From the point of its initial introduction (Moscow) V. filiformis settles at the rate of 4 km/year to the northern direction, and at the rate of 10 km/year to the southern. The ability of the species to regenerate is influenced more by the lighting intensity than the age of the rooting shoots. In the latest decade this species invaded the natural communities of meadows and forest edges. The high rate of expansion of the secondary distribution range, reduction of natural diversity of regions, as well as direct damage caused by this species when laying lawns, allow us to include V. filiformis in the list of potentially invasive alien species and to carry out control measures for its dispersal.