We all know about ticks causing Lyme disease...but a plant? This plant is now banned in Maine because of Lyme disease!

Say goodbye to the Japanese Barberry. According to WGME CBS 13, the plant is so popular in Maine, it's actually planted around the Statehouse. It's pretty, a shrub, with thorns! It's a perfect hedge.

WGME 13 reports that the state horticulturist Gary Fish said,

They're definitely a tick magnet . They're very much a tick magnet and they not only are a tick magnet; they're a mouse magnet and mice is where Lyme disease is reservoired.



Last year, Maine had about 1,800 cases of Lyme disease, and the CDC says it actually could be 10 times that. It's so bad, the CDC is now recommending that if you have this plant, the Japanese Barberry in your yard - rip it out!

Even the the statehouse is ripping it out. Well, once they've hired a landscaper!