An inventory of the alien plant species in Indonesia based on the existing references and herbarium
specimens concluded that 1936 alien plant species are found in Indonesia which belong to 187 families.
Field studies should be done to get the complete figures of alien plant species in Indonesia. Based on the
existing figures of the plant species, the invasive alien plant species can be identified, followed by studies
on the assessment of losses, biology, management and their possible utilizations. Alien plant species are
imported to Indonesia for cultivation, collection of the botanical garden, as experimental plants or other
curiosities. Aside from plants purposely imported,  there are also introduced plant propagules conta-
minating imported agricultural products. These alien plant species can be beneficial or have a potential of
being invasive. The alien cultivated species consisted of 67% of the total number. More than half of the
cultivated plants are ornamental plants. Some of the species are naturalized or escaped from cultivation
and become wild and invasive. Some other naturalized species, adapted well without any problems of
invasion. There are 339 species or 17% of the species recorded as weeds. The highest record of weeds is
found in the family of Poaceae (57 species), followed by Asteraceae (53 species) and Cyperaceae (35
species). There are 6 families having more than  10 species of weeds: Amaranthaceae, Asteraceae,
Cyperaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Poaceae, and Rubiaceae. Three families have more than 100 species:
Asteraceae 162 species, Poaceae 120 species, and Papillionaceae 103 species. Five species of aquatic and
20 species of terrestrial plants  considered as important alien plant species in Indonesia were identified
and some of  their  distributions noted.