Xanthium occidentale or pungens
Noogoora burr
Noogoora burr is an annual herb which grows up to 2.5 metres tall with two growth forms; erect single stemmed or many branched and spreading. It has an extensive root system and is toxic to stock. Stems are rough to touch with short stout upward directed hairs, green and usually blotched or streaked purple. Leaves are dark green and similar in shape to grape vine leaves, about 15cm in diameter. Flowers are green and occur in inconspicuous clusters around leaf axils. The fruit is a hard woody burr with many hooked spines and two terminal beaks. Each burr contains two [...]
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Macfadyena unguis-cati
Cat’s claw creeper
Cat’s claw creeper was introduced to Australia as a garden plant, particularly for screening trellises and walls, and has escaped to become a major weed of native forests and riparian areas in eastern Australia. Its climbing woody stems (lianas) cling to tree trunks, enabling it to grow into the forest canopy. In native rainforests it can overtop and kill mature trees, opening up the canopy for light-loving weeds. This can lead to further degradation in the structure and composition of the native plant community. Cat’s claw creeper competes with native plants by forming a dense above-ground mat and many underground [...]
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Ligustrum lucidum
Broad-leaf privet
Broad-leaf privet originates from eastern Asia and has become a widespread weed of disturbed land, pastoral areas and native bushland in coastal NSW. It grows as an evergreen shrub or small tree to a height of 4-10 metres. The brown bark is covered in small white lenticels (pores that allow gas exchange). Pointed oval-shaped leaves occur in opposite pairs, and are 4-13 cm long and 3-6 cm wide. The upper leaf surface is dark green and glossy or shiny, while the under-surface is paler with distinct veins. Leaves are hairless. Cream or white tubular flowers with four petal-like lobes occur [...]
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Caesalpinia decapetala
Mysore thorn
Mysore thorn is a perennial shrub, growing to 2-4 metres, or a sprawling climber to 15 metres high, which readily forms a dense impenetrable thicket. It has tap roots and lateral roots. Mysore thorn is a vigorous growing plant capable of climbing and engulfing native vegetation, fences, sheds, bridges and other infrastructure. The long spines of the Mysore thorn can inflict serious injury to humans and animals, native and domestic. Mysore thorn forms dense thickets restricting access of stock and machinery to vital areas like water, pastures and roads. Thorns on the stems are straight or hooked and aid in [...]
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Pueraria lobata
Kudzu
Kudzu is a coarse, high-climbing, twining, trailing, perennial vine. It has hairy, dark brown stems up to 15 metres long. It forms large root tubers up to two metres long and 18 cm to 45 cm wide that can weigh as much as 180 kg on old plants and can reach a depth of one metre to five metres. Leaves are alternate with three leaflets (hairy on both surfaces) 8 cm to 20 cm long and 5 cm to 19 cm wide, usually slightly lobed (unless in shade). Flowers are pea-like, pink to purple with yellow centres, highly fragrant and [...]
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Hymenachne amplexicaulis
Hymenachne
Hymenachne is a semi-aquatic perennial grass that has become a major weed of wetlands, flood plains and sugar cane crops of northern Australia. Originally introduced to Queensland and the Northern Territory as a ponded pasture species, it has invaded freshwater wetlands, flood plains and river banks. It forms dense infestations, displaces native plant species, reduces biodiversity and threatens native wetland habitat. Native to the tropics of South and Central America, it is a serious weed in Australia, the West Indies, Indonesia, the Florida wetlands of USA and Suriname. Once considered a source of dry season fodder for cattle, it has [...]
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Parthenium hysterophorus
Parthenium weed
Parthenium weed is an erect annual which grows to about 1.5 metres tall. Seed is black, 2-3.5 mm long, topped with membranous white scales about 0.5 mm long. It can be confused with other annual herbs like ragweed or hemlock. It has one main stem, with distinct ribs, which branches in the upper half of the plant; grooved lengthwise, becoming woody with age. Leaves are light green to mid green in colour, deeply lobed with short hairs. Rosette leaves are 8 cm to 20 cm longer, while stem leaves are shorter. Flowers are white to cream in colour, diamond shaped. [...]
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Pistia stratiotes
Water lettuce
Water lettuce is a perennial stoloniferous aquatic herb to 20 cm above water level with feathery roots. Leaves are wedge-shaped, pale green, buoyant towards base, to 15 cm long and to 8 cm wide. Flowers are small and partly concealed at the base of the plant. Flowers occur on a column surrounded by a whitish slit funnel-shaped bract (spathe). A large number of unbranched feathery roots up to 80 cm long are submersed in water beneath the leaves of the plant. Water lettuce is dispersed by seed and vegetatively by daughter plants at the end of stolons. Seeds, seedlings and [...]
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Alternanthera philoxeroides
Alligator weed
Alligator weed is a perennial herb. There are different forms of this plant which grow on land and in water. Aquatic forms may be free-floating, or rooted and emergent from the water surface. Stems are hollow. The horizontal stem that produces roots and has shoots that develop into new plants, forming dense interwoven mats. Severe frosts may kill exposed stems. Leaves are without stalks, dark green, smooth, waxy, 2-7 cm long, 5-40 mm wide, in pairs opposite each other on the main stems. Veins from the central rib are visible beneath the waxy leaf surface. Flowers have silvery white heads [...]
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