This page is dedicated to the appalling lack of awareness
about the environmental weed issue of popular garden shows,
landscapers and retail nurseries.
Time and time again they promote and sell exotic plants that are
known environmental weeds or regarded as potential environmental
weeds.
The problem is that any particular exotic
plant is never listed as a noxious weed until it causing major
problems for agriculture by which time it has spread beyond any
hope of eradication.
You can help by subscribing to the Enviroweeds
email forum and seeking advice if you are unsure of the weediness
of any exotic or Australian native plants that you wish to
purchase and plant.
Let your friends and family know about any
exotic or Australian native plants that you find are a problem in
your area. Refer them to the this web site and/or Enviroweeds
web site.
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Scientific plant names consist of the genus to which the
plant belongs followed by the specific species name. For
example with Tradescantia zebrina. "Tradescantia "
is the genus name while "zebrina" is the species
name. Together they uniquely identify a specific plant.
Plants that are members of the same genus are almost
identical in terms of genetic makeup and share many physical
and behavioural characteristics.
Therefore if one member of a particular genus is an
environmental weed then there is a good chance that other
members have the potential to be environmental weeds given
sufficient time.
Simply choosing a different non-indigenous species,
whether it is a member of the same genus or not, is akin to
playing Russian roulette with the environment. It is part of
the reason why there are so many invasive environmental
weeds in Australia, costing the economy billions of dollars
annually and bring about the gradual extinction of our
flora.
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Tradescantia spathacea
Tradescantia zebrina is the environmental
weed Wandering Jew that thickly carpets the ground and prevents
anything else from growing. New plants will sprout from the
smallest of stem or leaf fragments so it is extremely difficult
to get rid of it.
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I am afraid to say that you cannot
necessarily rely on the advice given to you even by well
respected retail nurseries. In many cases the proprietors and
staff are completely ignorant of the invasive potential of many
of the plants they sell.
Until standards are greatly improved within
the retail nursery sector and until social responsibility takes
precedence over sales and profit the onus is on you, the retail
nursery customer, to make informed plant choices.
Pennisteum setaceum /
Fountain Grass
Pennisetum setaceum, and Pennisteum in general,
are highly invasive environmental weeds in Australia and are a
major threat to our native flora and to agriculture.
Large infestations of Pennisetum increase the
severity of bushfires by adding significantly to fuel loads and,
unlike our native flora, they are well adapted to such extreme
fire regimes. Our native flora is best adapted to frequent low
intensity fires.
Pennisetum setaceum is listed as a class
3 Pest Plant in Queensland. Pennisetum
macrourum or African Feather Grass is a regionally prohibited
weed under Victoria's
Catchment & Land Protection Act. Pennisetum villosum or
Longstyle Feather Grass is a W3
Noxious Weed in parts of NSW. In all cases it is illegal to
sell these species in the respective states but, morally
speaking, retail nurseries in one state should not be selling
plants that are prohibited in other states.
It is merely a matter of time
before all Pennisteum species become prohibited plants Australia
wide as they spread and their threat to agriculture grows.
Pennisteum alopecuroides or Swamp Foxtail Grass
is dubiously claimed to be an Australian native but is more
likely to be a naturalized exotic
grass. It is also known as an
environmental weed in China, Japan and New Zealand.
Pennistum setaceum / Fountain Grass
Pennistum villosum / Longstyle Fountain Grass
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Erica melanthera / Pink Bells
This plant is yet another African native
and, although it is not yet listed as noxious weed in any state,
its close relative Erica lusitanica or Spanish Heath is listed as
a noxious
weed in Tasmania.
Erica melanthera, and other Erica species,
are recognized nationally as a potential
environmental weeds. Some have a history overseas as
environmental weeds.
Again it is a matter of time before all or
many of them become prohibited plants Australia wide as they
spread and the threat they pose grows.
Erica lusitanica / Spanish Heath
(Erica melanthera looks very similar, in fact the average
gardener would not be able to distinguish the two species)
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Gazania sp / Gazania Daisies
Gazania Daisies are native to South Africa
and, while attractive, it is also a highly invasive
environmental weeds. This plant is a future "Paterson's
Curse" and it is only a matter of time before it is added to the state
and federal noxious weed lists. It is a major threat to both our
environment and to agriculture.
There are numerous sites within the City of Hume where this plant has been used in round abouts
and at farm gates and is spreading aggressively along the road
sides, into paddocks and into flora reserves.
Gazania rigens / Gazania Daisy
The following photographs are of
'cancerous' Gazania Daisy infestations on road sides and reserves
around the City of Hume.
Roxburgh Park
Gazania Daisies spreading along
the road sides from the garden bed at the base of the wall.
Seeds have blown across the road
and Gazania continuing to spread.
Goonawarra Golf Course in
Sunbury
Goonawarra Golf Course - one of
the sources of widespread Gazania infestations in the Sunbury
area
Gazania Daisies planted in the car
park garden beds.
A Gazania lawn in what would have
been a grassy area - this is characteristic behaviour of a highly
invasive environmental weed.
Gazania Daisies swamping weedy
grasses in the roadside verge on the other side of Sunbury Road.
If Gazania Daisies can displace other environmental weeds then
what hope do our sensitive wildflowers have?
More Gazania lawn.
Ripplebrook Primary School on
Mickelam Road
The garden bed at the base of the
memorial contains Gazania.
Gazania lawn has formed around the
outside of the garden bed.
The plant has spread significantly
over a distance of tens of metres from the source in both
directions. South of the memorial there are also occasional
isolated plants over a distance of about 1 kilometre.
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Dolichos
lignosus / Australian Pea
This plant is currently being sold (as
seeds) on Ebay by a Tasmanian retail nursery. There is nothing
Australian about this plant and it is in fact native to Southern
Africa.
The nursery claims that the species is not
a problem in Tasmania's cold climate but do not hesitate to sell
it to clients in warmer parts of Australia where it is a known to
be an invasive environmental weed.
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