MARK Smith ("Weeding out hysteria about foreign invaders", The Herald, July 21) correctly states that Rhododendron Ponticum was present before the last ice age, but he omits to mention that post the ice age it did not recolonise.
Therefore the flora evolved without its presence, and hence there are no natural brakes on its spread.
If you want to see evidence of this just walk through an area of Ponticum and see the sterile environment below them.
David Stubley,
22 Templeton Crescent,
Prestwick.
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