Eva Bond, of Valley View, Malborough, writes: The Alexanders plant was brought over by the Romans as a salad crop and to feed their horses. It was sown in the South West coastal areas. I have been concerned enough about its rapid growth in our hedgerows to ask the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Unit if it saw it as a problem. 'No,' it replied, as it is not toxic. Likewise the National Trust laughed and told me it was not a problem. Our esteemed local botanist was more concerned at the winter heliotrope introduced in our gardens by the Victorians. Alexanders are large plants and seed much sooner than our native hedgerow plants, thus causing these to be blanked out. There is no reason to defend this plant by, for instance, ­saying 'it's pretty': it is blanking out our even more pretty wildflowers. Likewise, insects feed off it, but it could cope with an insect invasion. One consolation is that the Countryside Code lists it as a plant that 'it is an offence to cause it to be grown'. Devon County Council could easily set an example to control this plant, which can grow to six feet, by hacking it down in the verges and hedgerows before it sets seed, which it has already started to so do.