This article describes the history of plant introductions from Japan into North
America, from the Perry Expedition in 1854 through the collections of George Rogers
Hall of Bristol, Rhode Island and Thomas Hogg of New York City between 1861 and
1875. Both men sent plants to the innovative nurseryman, Samuel Bowne Parsons of
Flushing, Long Island, who propagated and sold them to the gardening public. This
process, which took more than twenty years from initial collection through commercial
distribution, succeeded in adding innumerable Japanese species into the ornamental
landscapes of North America, including Japanese maple, kousa dogwood, panicle
hydrangea, and Sawara cypress. Unfortunately these early introductions also included
a number of species which escaped cultivation and have become infamously invasive,
including oriental bittersweet, kudzu, porcelain berry and Japanese honeysuckle. The
pioneering work of these three horticulturists–compounded over the past hundred and
fifty years–has had a profound impact on both cultivated and wild landscapes across
North America.

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• The Introduction of Japanese Plants Into North America