Improving the prevention of alien plant invasion in the EPPO region: the need to focus on highly invasive plants with (still) limited distribution – examples from Israel

Prevention (of invasion) is the most efficient strategy to control invasive alien plants (IAPs). This requires that potentially invasive plant taxa not yet introduced into regions where they could become invasive are identified as early as possible. Therefore, alongside the best known and already widespread IAPs it is crucial to highlight highly invasive plant taxa whose distribution is still limited. It becomes even more important to consider those taxa when some are recommended as ornamental/useful species outside their native range. This paper provides six examples of IAP s whose invasiveness has been established but which are still restricted to a single EPPO country (Israel). While horizon‐scanning studies have produced valuable alert lists, mainly for temperate Europe, EPPO pest risk analyses have focused on IAPs that are widespread outside the EPPO region. Therefore it is suggested that more attention is given to IAPs that pose a threat to Mediterranean, semiarid and arid areas within the EPPO region but that so far have remained largely unnoticed because of their present limited distribution. Awareness of these species must be urgently raised before they spread to new EPPO countries. The elaboration of a database compiling information about IAPs characterized by a restricted distribution in each EPPO country is discussed. The examples presented in this paper are most relevant to EPPO countries with a dry (Mediterranean, semiarid and arid) climate.