Commonwealth of Australia 2008

© Commonwealth of Australia 2008 This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Commonwealth. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the Commonwealth Copyright Administration, Attorney General’s Department, Robert Garran Offices, National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600 or posted at http://www.ag.gov.au/cca. The Australian Government acting through the Bureau of Rural Sciences has exercised due care and skill in the preparation and compilation of the information and data set out in this publication. Notwithstanding, the Bureau of Rural Sciences, its employees and advisers disclaim all liability, including liability for negligence, for any loss, damage, injury, expense or cost incurred by any person as a result of accessing, using or relying upon any of the information or data set out in this publication to the maximum extent permitted by law. Postal address: Bureau of Rural Sciences GPO Box 858 Canberra, ACT 2601 Internet: http://www.brs.gov.au Foreword Northern Australia is vulnerable to the establishment of pests from countries to Australia’s north. Weed seeds, insect pests and diseases can be carried into Australia by migrating birds, wind currents and the movement of people, particularly from Papua New Guinea and the Torres Strait Islands to the northern, sparsely populated part of Australia.

The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) established the Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy (NAQS) in 1989 to address the unique quarantine risks in this region. The strategy includes regular surveys of the region and the development of target lists of weeds, insect pests and diseases that pose the highest risk of entry, establishment and impact on Australian agriculture and the environment.

This second revision of the NAQS weeds target list has been compiled through extensive consultation between the Bureau of Rural Sciences (BRS) and NAQS survey officers. The list is a valuable tool to raise awareness of plants not present, or under eradication in Australia, that have the potential to negatively impact Australia’s environmental, agricultural and amenity assets. Highlighting these species will alert communities in Northern Australia to the threat posed by exotic and invasive plants. With increased vigilance for unusual plants, the chances of early detection of invasive species are greatly increased. Early detection in turn increases the chance of eradication success, or the prevention of establishment. This prevention approach is far more cost effective than management of weed infestations after establishment, reinforcing the value of priority target lists.

Dr Colin J. Grant Executive Director Bureau of Rural Sciences

NAQS Weeds Target List 2 Executive Summary

Awareness increases the chance of early detection The Northern Australian Quarantine Strategy and preventing new incursions of invasive species. (NAQS) weeds target list is a tool to help raise awareness of the risk newly introduced plants pose to Australian agriculture and the environment. The weeds target list is a useful component of the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) ‘Top Watch’ programme that resulted in detection of three NAQS target weeds in Australia in 2002. Siam weed (Chromolaena odorata) is an example of a NAQS target weed that was detected through surveys and increased awareness. Early detection of this species in Australia has increased the chance of eradication success.

This is the second revision of the NAQS Weeds Target A ranked target weed list of 23 species was compiled from List. literature review and extensive field survey experience in 1989. This list was revised in 1998 and expanded to 41 species, ranked according to weediness. This current review is an unranked list of 79 species and 16 genera of concern to Australian agriculture and the environment, compiled through literature review and extensive consultation with NAQS field survey officers.

This current review is categorised according to This review has categorised the 79 target weeds into 31 primary list species, appendix list species and a genera species on the primary NAQS target weeds list, and 48 list. species on an appendix list. Species were assigned to categories by NAQS field survey officers, with the primary list having greater potential for invasiveness and deleterious impacts on agriculture and the environment.They also have a well defined taxonomy for ease of identification.

While this list should focus survey activities and raise This list will increase awareness of species that can pose a public awareness, any new or unidentified species risk of becoming invasive in Australia. However, any new should be reported or unidentified plant detected in the NAQS region should be reported, regardless of its classification as a NAQS target weed.

NAQS Weeds Target List 3 Contents

NAQS Weeds Target List 4 Background The introduction and spread of weeds in Australia is mostly attributed to human activity and movement, with 65% of weeds in Australia being garden escapees. Australia is particularly vulnerable to the establishment of pests that could enter from countries to Australia’s north. Weed propagules and seeds can be carried by migrating birds and wind currents to Australian shores from neighbouring countries. Northern Australia's vast and sparsely populated coastline is vulnerable to the undetected landing of foreign vessels that by-pass the usual quarantine checks at Australian borders, providing another potential pathway for weed incursion.

The types of landscapes at immediate risk from introduction of new weed species in northern Australia inlcude wetlands and swamps, areas damaged by introduced grazing herbivores and complex ecosystems such as the world heritage listed Wet Tropics and Kakadu National Parks. Remote areas with low visitation are also vulnerable to weed establishment if incursions occur.

The Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy (NAQS) was established in 1989 to protect Australia from new incursions of plant and animal pests and diseases. Currently, NAQS conducts plant health surveys along the northern Australia coastline between Cairns and Broome, the Torres Strait and in the northern neighbouring countries of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste (Figure 1). A series of ‘target species lists’ have been developed, to focus survey activities and to raise public awareness about quarantine risks to the Australian environment and agricultural industries. A target weeds list comprised of 23 weeds of quarantine concern was compiled in 1989. This list comprised species that were not known to be present in Australia, and were considered to pose a threat based on a thorough literature review and extensive field experience with tropical weeds in South-East Asia. This list was reviewed and expanded to 41 species by Waterhouse and Mitchell (1998).

Figure 1. NAQS region (AQIS 2007)

NAQS Weeds Target List 5 Several NAQS target weeds have been detected overseas and in Australia. Some of these detections have been made as part of the ‘Top Watch’ Programme, a quarantine public awareness programme to encourage residents in NAQS regions to ‘keep a top watch’ for exotic species. People are encouraged to report sightings of unusual pests, weeds and diseases to AQIS. This programme is an active part of surveillance in the north. In 2002, NAQS botanists identified 269 specimens submitted by private contractors, private landholders and personnel from State and local government agencies. Three NAQS target weeds were amongst these specimens, one of which (Clidemia hirta) was recorded for the first time in Australia (‘NAQS news’ December 2002).

NAQS surveys in 1992 confirmed the presence of Siam weed (Chromolaena odorata) in Papua New Guinea, resulting in heightened awareness and further detections of this species in Papua New Guinea, and inclusion of these regions in a pre-existing biological control programme funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) (Waterhouse, 2003). Experience gained from discovery of these infestations enabled NAQS officers to instantly recognise and delimit subsequent unexpected Siam weed infestations in Australia, and an eradication programme is well underway.

A workshop was held in February of 2005 to develop a methodology for a second revision of the NAQS weed target list. The workshop reached agreement on the following outcomes: - an evidence-based target list of less than or equal to 50 iconic weed species should be developed - the target list should not be ranked - the declaration status (e.g. noxious) of target weeds would not be a criterion for developing the list, but species on the list would be promoted for declaration. - both agricultural and environmental impacts would be considered when developing the list - the list should be drawn from weeds of tropical origin - weed risk assessments would be confined to all prospective species for the final target list.

This project focussed on the review of previous NAQS weeds lists and development of a newly revised weeds target list. The methods described in the 2005 workshop were followed wherever possible, and close consultation with NAQS officers was maintained throughout the project.

NAQS Weeds Target List 6 Revision of the NAQS weed list This current review was undertaken by the Bureau of Rural Sciences (BRS) in close consultation with NAQS officers, through email, phone and face to face meetings. A spreadsheet of the list, shortened at each stage of the review, with associated comments from consultation, was maintained (see accompanying spreadsheet; ‘naqs_weeds_review_07.XLS’). This review followed the recommendations of the 2005 workshop; Rod Randall provided a list of almost 1,000 weeds of tropical and Pacific origin (the query conditions were negotiated with and reported to NAQS officers) from his plants database (Randall, 2006). This list was reviewed by NAQS officers and BRS sorted the list by number of references. On advice from NAQS that they were likely to be of lesser importance, the species with only one reference were removed from consideration. Species that were known to be present in Australia and not under eradication were also identified and removed from the list. The list was cross-checked with species that were on State noxious or declared weeds lists, and species that required taxonomy to be checked were noted. The Australian national eradication target species were added to the list. These are; Chromolaena odorata, Orobanche ramosa (which was eventually not included as it is a weed of Mediterranean and temperate climates), Clidemia hirta, Limnocharis flava, Mikania spp., Miconia calvescens.

Three species from the previous NAQS list were noted for exclusion from the current list. These were Digitaria fuscenscens (not especially weedy), Leptochloa panacea (naturalised in Queensland) and Mikania cordata (not especially weedy, particularly compared to other species in this genus). The International Plant Name Index (Plant Names Project 2004) was consulted to search for synonyms of the remaining 420 species and these were noted for future reference. The names originally provided and all synonyms were then used to search in the CABI journal article database (http://www.cabi.org/datapage.asp?iDocID=228) by plant name and ‘weed’—those species for which the search returned five or more references as a weed were noted for further research and potential inclusion on the final list.

To prompt comment from NAQS officers during consultation, a list of ‘weedy families’ was compiled (see Appendix A), and those species in less weedy families were highlighted in the spreadsheet. All species were searched by species name and synonyms in the Australian Virtual Herbarium (AVH) online database, and species with collection records in Australia were also highlighted in the spreadsheet. All species were also checked against the newly revised permitted seeds and the non-permitted species lists. A series of consultations with NAQS officers were then conducted (one face-to-face meeting at the 15th Weeds Conference in Adelaide, and two teleconference meetings as well as ongoing email consultation for the duration of the project) and the comments at each stage recorded in the spreadsheet. The final spreadsheet with all comments, number of Australian collection records and status on permitted seeds lists and with worksheets at each stage of list refinement was presented to NAQS officers and the list was categorised according to primary and appendix list species. A list of genera to be reported was also compiled. The primary list (Table 1) and genera list (Table 2) feature those species or genera which are most likely to pose a threat to Australian agriculture and the environment, whilst the appendix list (Table 3) includes those species which are more difficult to determine taxonomically or have a lesser propensity for invasiveness.

NAQS Weeds Target List 7

Table 1: NAQS Primary Weed List

Family Species Common name Crops/habitats affected

Acanthaceae Asystasia gangetica subsp. Chinese violet Rubber, coffee, oil-palm micrantha (Nees) Ensermu plantations, environmental weed.

Blechum pyramidatum (Lam.) Browne’s blechum, green Pastures, gardens, Urb shrimp plant, blackweed disturbed areas, rainforest understoreys.

Asteraceae Austroeupatorium Austroeupatorium Rice, plantations and inulaefolium (Kuth.) perennial crops, R.M.King & H.Rob. savannas, swamps, disturbed forests, roadsides.

Bidens biternata (Lour.) Yellow flowered blackjack; five Weed of disturbed and Merr. & Sherff. leaved blackjack cultivated areas, paddy fields.

Chromolaena odorata (L.) Siam weed Coconuts, rubber, R.M.King & H.Rob. tobacco, sugar cane, pastures, oil-palm, fruit, maize forest edges, clearings and river flats.

Mikania micrantha Kunth Mile-a-minute Rubber, coconut, oil palm, banana, cocoa, forestry crops, pastures, rice.

Boraginaceae Cordia curassavica Black sage Environmental weed. (Jacq.)nRoem. & Schult.

Cyperaceae Schoenoplectus juncoides Rock bulrush; hardstem Rice, lowland swamps, (Roxb.) Palla bulrush; open wet places.

Equisetaceae Equisetum ramosissimum Branched scouringrush Tea, rice, toxic to subsp. debile (voucher) livestock, tolerates Hauke variable conditions.

Euphorbiaceae Croton hirtus L’Hérit. Croton Disturbed land, roadsides, gardens, pastures and cultivated areas. Invades orchards, tea plantations, rice, tobacco, peanuts, sugarcane and vegetable crops.

Fabaceae Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC Velvet bean, cow itch Grasslands, bushland, riverine forests, abandoned cultivation.

NAQS Weeds Target List 8 Family Species Common name Crops/habitats affected

Lamiaceae Clerodendrum chinense Stickbush, glory bower, Disturbed forests, (Osbeck) Mabb. Honolulu rose, Spanish jasmine roadsides, gardens, pastures, plantations, environmental weed.

Leucas aspera (Willd.) Link Pansi-pansi, Feng chao cao Fields, dandy grasslands, wasteland, roadsides, overgrazed areas.

Limnocharitaceae Limnocharis flava (L.) Sawah-lettuce, velvetleaf, Wetlands, fresh water Buchenau yellow bur-head pools, rice paddies, irrigation ditches, environmental weed.

Lythraceae Rotala indica (Willd.) Indian toothcup Rice fields, river banks, Keohne ditches, waterlogged grasslands.

Melastomataceae Clidemia hirta (L.) D. Don Koster’s curse, soap bush Cultivated areas, pastures, plantations and disturbed areas.

Miconia calvescens DC. Miconia, velvet tree Coastland, disturbed areas, natural forests, planted forests, riparian zones, scrub/shrublands, urban areas, wetlands.

Mimosaceae Neptunia plena (L.) Benth. Water dead and awake, water Wetlands, swamps and sensitive marshes, water-logged or flooded areas.

Nyctaginaceae Boerhavia erecta L. Erect tar vine Maize and annual crops, disturbed forests, pastures, cultivated land, roadsides and foreshores.

Orobanchaceae Aeginetia indica L. Ye gu Parasitizes bamboo shoots and crops such as rice, maize and sugarcane. Grassy lowlands, wet, swampy ground, forests, roadsides.

Piperaceae Piper aduncum L. Spiked pepper, false kava Kava crops, grazing land, abandoned gardens.

Poaceae Digitaria insularis (L.) Mez Sour grass Soybean, plum, guarana, ex Ekman rubber, passionfruit, maize, pineapple, cotton, pastures, rangelands, fallow land.

Echinochloa glabrescens Barnyard grass Rice, maize, wetlands, Munro ex Hook. f. emend. fallow ground.

Kossenko

Eragrostis japonica (Thunb.) Japanese lovegrass, pond Arable lands and rice Trin. lovegrass fields.

Imperata conferta (Presl.) Cogongrass, lalang jawa Coconut, roadsides, Ohwi hillsides, streams and trails in dense or open forest.

Leptochloa chinensis (L.) Asian sprangletop, Chinese Rice, sugarcane, Nees sprangletop, red sprangletop vegetables, cotton, corn.

Sacciolepis interrupta Rice, irrigation channels (Willd.) and wetlands.

Rubiaceae Paederia foetida L. Skunk vine Sugarcane, pastures, secondary forests, waste places and cultivated land.

Salviniaceae Salvinia cucullata Roxb. Ex Chok huu nuu Slow-moving freshwater Bory bodies, rice fields, shallow pools.

Scrophulariaceae Limnophila sessiliflora (Vahl) Ambulia, Asian marshweed, shi Ponds, swamps, rice Blume long wei fields, wet places along streams.

Striga asiatica (L.) Kuntze Asiatic witchweed, red Maize, millet, rice, witchweed sorghum, sugarcane, sunflower, tomatoes, some legumes.

NAQS Weeds Target List 10 Table 2: NAQS Genera Weed List

Family Genus Common name Iconic Species

Amaranthaceae Alternanthera A. caracasana

Asteraceae Bidens B. biternata

Blumea B. laciniata

Eupatorium Eupatorium

Mikania M. micrantha

Cyperaceae Cyperus Umbrella sedge, flat sedge C. virens

Equisetaceae Equisetum Horsetail, scouring brush E. ramosissimum

Fabaceae Crotalaria Rattlepod, rattlebox

Melastomataceae Miconia M. calvescens

Mimosaceae Acacia Wattle

Mimosa

Prosopis Mesquite

Rhamnaceae Ziziphus Jujube

Salviniaceae Salvinia S. cucullata, S. natans

Scrophulariaceae Striga Witchweed S. asiatica

Trapaceae Trapa Floating water chestnut, water caltrop

NAQS Weeds Target List 11 Table 3: NAQS Appendix Weed List

Family Species Common name Crops/habitats affected

Araceae Lasia spinosa (L.) Thwaites Agricultural weed, rainforests, swampy sites.

Asteraceae Lagascea mollis Cav. Acuate, doll’s head, silk- Crop fields, waste places. leaf, velvet bush

Capparaceae Cleome rutidosperma DC. Fringed spiderflower Rubber plantations, orchards, maize, cotton, cucurbitaceae family (cucumbers, squash, melons), environmental weed.

Convolvulaceae Ipomoea wrightii A. Gray Palmleaf morning glory Disturbed and cultivated areas.

Cyperaceae Bolboschoenus maritimus(L.) Sea clubrush, saltmarsh Rice, bogs, shores, saline Palla (Syn. Scirpus maritimus L.) bulrush, puruagrass, soils. prairie rush

Eleocharis congesta D. Don. Spikerush Irrigated and tidal rice fields, marshes.

Fimbristylis umbellaris (Lam.) Globular fimbristylis Rice, pastures, swamps. Vahl

Elatinaceae Bergia capensis L. Bergia Irrigated and rainfed rice fields, swamps, wet grasslands.

Eriocaulaceae Eriocaulon truncatum Buch.- Rice, wetlands, swamps, Ham. Ex Mart riverbanks, floodplains.

Haloragaceae Myriophyllum spicatum L. Eurasian watermilfoil Serious weed of lakes.

Lamiaceae Hyptis brevipes Poit. Lesser roundweed Plantation crops, orchards, vegetables, rice, secondary forests, and disturbed sites in areas of high rainfall.

Pogostemon auricularia (L.) Rice, moist, disturbed sites. Hassk.

Loganiaceae Spigelia anthemlia L.* Worm grass Disturbed sites.

Malvaceae Urena sinuata L. (Syn Urena Burr mallow, caesarweed, Pastures, roadsides and lobata subsp. sinuata)* Congo jute, hibiscus burr, waste land, invades pink burr, pink Chinese disturbed areas. burr, urena burr

Mimosaceae Falcataria moluccana (Miq.) Batai, bataiwood Forests, pastures and open Barneby & J. W. Grimes (Syn. areas. Albizia falcataria (L.) Fosberg; and Paraserianthes falcataria (L.) I.C. Nielsen)

Neptunia oleracea Lour.* Water-mimosa Aquatic floating weed of damp sites. Often cultivated.

Pithecellobium dulce (Roxb.) Madras thorn Pastures, poor soils in dry Benth. climates, environmental weed.

Myrtaceae Rhodomyrtus tomentosa (Aiton) Downy rose myrtle Environmental weed, Hassk. pastures, rangelands and untended areas.

Oleaceae Ligustrum robustum (Roxb.) Ceylon privet, Sri lankan Environmental weed, Blume privet, tree privet agricultural areas, disturbed, areas, natural forests, planted forests, riparian zines, scrub/shrublands, urban areas.

Onagraceae Ludwigia prostrataRoxb.* Wet sites such as rice paddies, flood plains and streamsides.

Poaceae Aristida adscensionisL.* Six weeks three-awn, Dry open ground. annual bristle grass, six weeks needle grass

Coix lacryma-jobi L. Job’s tears Serious weed of waterways, rice.

Digitaria fuscescens (J. Presl) Common crabgrass Tobacco, vegetables, Henrard rubber, rice, pastures, disturbed sites, roadsides, coastal dunes, dry forests.

Digitaria horizontalis Willd. Jamaican crabgrass Fields, waste places.

Echinochloa stagnina (Retz.) P. Barnyard grass Rice, maize Beauv.

Eragrostis ciliaris (L.) R.Br. Gophertail, gophertail Dry places, found along lovegrass, woolly love rocky or sandy shores and grass. in open ground.

Eriochloa polystachya Kunth Carib grass Rice, riverbanks, swamps, drains and ditches, suppresses other vegetation.

Ischaemum timorense Kunth Centipede grass Cloves, cocoa, rubber, coconut, oil palm, sugarcane and rice plantations, weed of roadsides, ditches, forets margins.

Panicum dichotomiflorum Bluegrass, fall panic Naturalised in mesic,

Michx.* grass, fall panicum, disturbed areas. smooth witchgrass, western witchgrass

Miscanthus floridulus (Labill.) Miscanthus, giant Chinese Slopes, valleys and grassy Warb ex K.Schum & Lauterb. silver grass, Japanese places. (Syn. Saccharum floridulum silver grass Labill. & Miscanthus japonicus Andersson)*

Saccharum spontaneum L. Wild sugarcane, wild Waste areas, fallow fields, cane, serio grass, fodder marshes, banks of streams cane and ponds, sand dunes, along railways or highways, and in or around fields.

Urochloa plantaginea (Link) Alexander grass, Disturbed sites. R.D. Webster (Syn. Brachiaria marmalade grass, plantain plantaginea (Link) Hitchc.)* signal grass

Zizania latifolia (Griseb.) Turcz. Manchurian wildrice, Shallow water of coastland, Ex Stapf Asiatic wildrice, water estuaries, lakes, marine bamboo habitats, riparian zones, water courses, wetlands, pastures.

Urochloa glumaris (Trin.) Common brachiaria, Orchards, tea, coffee, rice, Veldkamp (Syn. Brachiaria Thurston grass lawns, roadsides, disturbed paspaloides (J. Presl) C.E. Hubb. sites.

Rhamnaceae Maesopsis eminii Engl. Umbrella tree, musizi Grasslands, disturbed areas within forests.

Rhizophoraceae Rhizophora mangle L.* American mangrove, Coastland, mangrove, red mangrove, range/grasslands, riparian zones, wetlands.

Rubiaceae Diodia sarmentosa Sw. Coffee, tea, leucaena, Stevia sp. Plantations.

Salviniaceae Salvinia natans (L.) All Floating watermoss Rice, irrigated fields, ditches and shallow pools.

Solanaceae Solanum viarum Dunal* Tropical soda apple Agricultural areas, riparian zones, rural/disturbed, water courses.

Turneraceae Piriqueta racemosa (Jacq) Sweet Rigid stripeseed Waste places, road sides, (Syn Piriqueta ovata (Bello) dry fields. Urb.)*

Verbenaceae Stachytarpheta indica(L.) Vahl* Blue porterweed, blue rats Crops, pastures, tail, light blue snakeweed, plantations, roadsides and vervain wastelands.

Violaceae Hybanthus attenuatus (Humb. Rice, a wide diversity of & Bonpl.) Schulze-Menz annual crops, pastures,

waste places. * indicates no profile for this species.

NAQS Weeds Target List 15 Weed Profiles Profiles for the weed species and genera in the three NAQS target lists were generated through internet searches and literature review. The profiles detail: - Species/Genera name - Common name - Synonym - Family Name - Description (botanical description) - Origin (regions to which the plant is native; specific countries are listed in brackets) - Distribution (current known global distribution; specific countries are listed in brackets) - Habitat (ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by the plant) - Propagation and dispersal (the reproduction and spread of the plant) - Rate of spread - Economic importance

Complete profiles are included for all of the Primary Weed List species. For the Genera Weed List, not all fields have been populated due to a lack of available data or a high degree of variability between individual species within the genus. Representative or iconic species were identified for some of the genera, and profiles have also been completed on these species. Within the scope of this project, profiles have also been completed for a selection of the Appendix Weed List. The species were selected based on the availability of data.

NAQS Weeds Target List 16 NAQS Primary Weed List Profiles

Asystasia gangetica (L.) T.Anderson ssp. micrantha (Nees) Ensermu

Chinese violet

Synonyms: Justicia gangetica L.

Family: Acanthaceae

Description: Perennial creeper that grows rapidly, up to 0.5 metres high alone and to 3 metres on supporting vegetation. Roots form when nodes make contact with moist soil, forming mats of stems. Branches ascending or erect, irregularly hairy, especially at or near nodes. Leaves are thin, ovate to almost orbicular, apex acuminate, base obtuse, no stipules, paler on underside, and are 25-165 millimetres long and 5-55 millimetres wide. The flower inflorescences are terminal racemes and the flower is 20-30 millimetres long and typically white in colour with two parallel purple lines. The throat is narrowly campanulate and lobes are suborbicular, with both throat and lobes very thinly hairy outside. The seed capsule is about 30 millimetres long, club shaped and contain four irregularly disk-shaped seeds held in by conspicuous hooks.

Note: Subspecies gangetica less weedy and is likely to be widespread in Australia, as it has been available for sale through the nursery trade. It is naturalised at Port Douglas in Queensland and at Bartalumba Bay and Groote Eylandt in the Northern Territory. Its flowers are 30-40 millimetres long and blue-mauve in colour compared to slightly shorter, white flowers of A. gangetica ssp. mircantha. There is also at least one Australian native species of Asystasia (A. australasica), which occurs in northern Queensland.

Origin: Southern Africa (Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland) India, possibly south-east Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines).

Distribution: Africa, India, south-east Asia, Pacific Islands (American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Galapagos Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Hawaii, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga), Papua New Guinea, Indian Ocean (La Reunion, Christmas Island), mainland Australia (under eradication).

Habitat: The plant grows in tropical and subtropical areas and is thought to tolerate a wide range of soil types. It prefers full sun or part shade and does not thrive in deep shade, but becomes spindly. In Australia, infestations are on vacant residential land, along fencelines, neglected garden beds, along roadsides and adjacent bushland.

Propagation and dispersal: The creeper disperses by both rhizomes and by seeds released explosively from drying capsules. Dispersal over long distances is through human activities including mining, gardening, landscaping and roadworks.

Rate of spread: The plant has a rapid growth rate, fast establishment, early flowering and high seed production.

Economic importance: This is a serious weed in southeast Asia and invasive in several locations in Papua New Guinea. It grows widely as a weed in rubber, coffee and other crops, and is particularly troublesome in oil-palm plantations. If it became established in Australia, it could potentially affect soybeans, vegetables, cut flowers and oil-teatree

NAQS Weeds Target List 17 plantations. As an environmental weed it smothers native vegetation and destroys the habitat of many birds and animals. The species has been identified on the Australian Federal Government’s Alert List for Environmental Weeds. Declared C1 and under eradication in New South Wales.

References:

CRC Weed Management 2003, Weed Management Guide: Chinese violet, CRC for Australian Weed Management and the Commonwealth Department of the Environment and Heritage, http://www.weeds.crc.org.au/documents/wmg_chinese_violet.pdf, accessed 3 January 2007.

Lithudzha, E. 2004, PlantzAfrica: Asystasia ganetica. South African National Biodiversity Institute, http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantab/asystasiagan.htm, accessed 3 January 2007.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Asystasia gangetica, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/Pier/species/asystasia_gangetica.htm, accessed 2 January 2007.

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) . National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?411163, accessed 2 January 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 18 Blechum pyramidatum (Lam.) Urb.

Browne’s blechum, green shrimp plant, blackweed

Synonyms: Blechum brownei Juss. Barleria pyramidatum (Lam.) Urb.

Family: Acanthaceae

Description: An erect or ascending plant, mostly less than 50 centimetres tall and branched. The leaves are ovate, 2-7 centimetres long, acute, obtuse or rounded at base, acute at apex, with short petioles. The 3-6 centimetres long, flower spikes are dense and squarish because of the bracts arranged in four vertical ranks. Bracts are ovate, resembling leaves, covered in short, stiff hairs, 1-1.5 centimetres long and greenish or whitish in colour. The flower corolla is white or pale violet and scarcely longer than bracts. The capsule is shortly oblong, with fine hairs and is about 6 centimetres in length.

Origin: Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama), northern South America (French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru), Trinidad and Tobago.

Distribution: Central America and northern South America, Pacific Islands (American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Guam, Hawaii, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Samoa, Tonga).

Habitat: Settlements, gardens, pastures, disturbed areas/waste places and along roadsides from sea level to 800 metres. A rainforest understorey weed.

Propagation and dispersal: Seed and rooting from lower leaf nodes.

Rate of spread: Unknown.

Economic importance: A major weed in the Pacific; widespread and invasive in Papua New Guinea. A weed of agriculture.

References:

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Blechum pyramidatum, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?412287, accessed 2 January 2007.

Huang, T-C. (Editor-in-chief) 1998, Flora of Taiwan Vol 4, Department of Botany, National Taiwan University, Taipai, Taiwan.

NAQS Weeds Target List 19 Austroeupatorium inulaefolium (Kuth.) R.M.King & H.Rob.

Austroeupatorium

Synonyms: Austroeupatorium inulifolium Eupatorium inulaefolium Kunth

Family: Asteraceae

Description: Perennial, spreading scrambling shrub growing 1-5 metres tall. The stems are cylindrical and covered with dense, short hairs. Leaves are opposite and spearshaped, 7-18 centimetres long and 2.5-8 centimetres wide. The leaves are covered in short, soft hairs, pale green beneath, abruptly narrowing to a wedge-shaped petiole 0.5-3 centimetres long. The floral heads are 2-3 millimetres in diameter, 5-6 millimetres long and arranged in large terminal corymb inflorescences; each head comprising 3 or 4 series of bracts enclosing 10-15 creamy white florets with 4-5 millimetre long, fragrant flowers. The seed is an oblong achene, angular, to 1.5 millimetres long, with a whitish pappus 4 millimetres long.

Origin: Caribbean, central America (Panama) and South America (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela).

Distribution: Caribbean, central and South America, Indonesia (Java, Bali and Flores), Philippines, Sri Lanka, Cocos Islands.

Habitat: Savannas, swamps, disturbed forests, plantations and perennial crops, roadsides, 100-2100 m, prefers moist conditions.

Propagation and dispersal: Wind-dispersed seed.

Economic importance: Serious weed in the Philippines. Forms dense thickets in plantations and clearings in secondary forests that crowd out other plants. Also a weed of upland rice. This species is declared noxious in the Northern Territory.

References:

North Australia Quarantine Strategy 2002, NAQS 2001 – 2002 Year in Review, Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, Canberra.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Austroeupatorium inulaefolium, Institute of Pacific Island Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/austroeupatorium_inulifolium.htm, accessed 2 October 2007.

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) . National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?446699, accessed 1 June 2006.

Waterhouse, B.M. and Mitchell, A.A. 1998, Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy Weeds Target List, AQIS Miscellaneous Publication no. 6/9: Canberra.

NAQS Weeds Target List 20 Bidens biternata (Lour.) Merr. & Sherff.

Yellow flowered blackjack; five leaved blackjack

Synonyms: Bidens cylindrica Sherff

Family: Asteraceae

Description: Erect annual herb, up to 1 metre. Leaves opposite, 9-19 centimetres long and densely hairy on both surfaces. The daisy-structured flower heads are 7-10 millimetres long and the flower stems are 1.5-11 centimetres long. Each head has 8- 10 linear involucral bracts, 3-6.5 millimetres long. The outer ray florets (1-5 in number) are sterile with a yellow corolla, 5.5 millimetres long. The inner disc florets are fertile, with a tubular corolla and are 4-5.5 millimetres long. This species can be distinguished from Bidens pilosa (present in Queensland and many Pacific Islands) by the leaves, with 5-7 leaflets (B. pilosa has only 3 leaflets) and the basal pair sometimes further divided. Also, B. pilosa’s ray florets, if present, are white.

Origin: Africa (Angola, Botswana, Cote D’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, Zimbabwe), Asia (China, Chinese Taipei, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia).

Distribution: Africa and Asia.

Habitat: Wet places, roadsides, disturbed areas and paddy fields.

Propagation and dispersal: Wind-dispersed seed.

Economic importance: A widespread weed of disturbed and cultivated areas. A medicinal herb in India.

References:

Hyde, M.A. and Wursten, B. 2007, Flora of Zimbabwe - Bidens biternata, http://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/species.php?species_id=160610, accessed 12 September 2007.

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) . National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?428099, accessed 12 September 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 21 Chromolaena odorata ( L. ) R.M.King & H.Rob.

Siam Weed

Synonyms: Eupatorium odoratum L.

Family: Asteraceae

Description: A perennial scrambling shrub to seven metres, with cylindrical, hairy stems and foliage that smells pungent when crushed. The leaves are opposite on 1–1.5 centimetre long stalks and are 5–12 centimetres long by 3–6 centimetres wide, velvety-pubescent and are triangular to spear or oval shaped, with 3 veins. The leaf margin may be very coarsely toothed, with 1–5 teeth, or entire in youngest leaves. The floral heads are 10–12 millimetres long, in dense terminal or axillary corymbs; heads with 10–35 white to mauve disc florets enclosed by 4–5 rows of bracts, the lowest about 2 millimetres long, the upper bracts 8–9 millimetres long. The seeds are black or brown, angled, linear achenes, with hooked hairs along the angles, to 5 millimetres long. Dull white hairs attached to the seed form a pappus of 5 millimetres length.

Origin: Caribbean (Dominica, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago), South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela), central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama), United States.

Distribution: Caribbean, central and South America, United States, Africa (Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, The Democratic Republic of the (Zaire),Cote d`Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Togo), south and south-east Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor Leste, Vietnam), Pacific Islands (Guam, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau), Papua New Guinea, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, mainland Australia (under eradication).

Habitat: Forest edges, clearings and river flats, roadsides, plantations and pastures with well- drained soils, where annual rainfall exceeds 1000 millimetres, and below 800 metres altitude.

Propagation and dispersal: Produces large quantities (up to 260,000 seeds per square metre) of wind-dispersed seeds. Plants can germinate and set seed within a 12 month period. Vegetative propagation from stem and root fragments. The seeds cling to hair, clothing and shoes and can occur as a contaminant in imported seed or on vehicles and machinery. The seeds can also be dispersed by the transportation of habitat material (sand and gravel) and live animals.

Rate of spread: Extremely rapid.

Economic importance: This species is a serious weed across its distribution, in crops such as coconuts, rubber, tobacco and sugar cane, in pastures and natural environments. It is toxic to stock, increases fuel load in bushfires and can cause allergic reactions in humans. It is also a host of cucumber mosaic virus and squash mosaic comovirus; serious pathogens affecting cucurbitaceae, one of the principal vegetable families grown in Malaysia. Noted as a potential environmental weed in Australia.

NAQS Weeds Target List 22 This species has been nominated as among 100 of the ‘World’s Worst’ invaders, and is a national eradication target in Australia; declared noxious in New South Wales, Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

References:

Cooperative Research Centre for Australian Weed Management 2003, Weed Management Guide Siam Weed, CRC for Australian Weed Management and the Department of Environment and Heritage, http://www.weeds.crc.org.au/documents/wmg_siam_weed.pdf, accessed 30 May, 2006.

Csurhes, S. and Edwards, R. 1998, Potential Environmental Weeds in Australia Candidate Species for Preventative Control, Environment Australia, Canberra.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2007, Chromolaena odorata, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/chromolaena_odorata.htm, accessed 4 July 2007.

Sidek, Z., Barin, J., and Sulaiman, I. 1999, ‘Weed hosts of cucurbit viruses’, Agro-search, 6.

Vanderwoude, C., Scanlan, J.C., Davis, B. and Funkhouser, S. 2005, Plan for National Delimiting Survey for Siam weed, Natural Resources and Mines Land Protection Services: Queensland Government.

Waterhouse, B.M. 2003, ‘Know your enemy: recent records of potentially serious weeds in northern Australia, Papua New Guinea and Papua (Indonesia)’, Telopea 10: 479-480.

Waterhouse, B.M. and Mitchell, A.A. 1998, Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy Weeds Target List. AQIS Miscellaneous Publication no. 6/9: Canberra.

Wilson, C. 2006, Chromolaena odorata ISSG Global Invasive Species Database, Parks & Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory & Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=47&fr=1&sts, accessed 29 May, 2006.

NAQS Weeds Target List 23 Mikania micrantha Kunth

Mile-a-minute

Synonyms: Willoughbya micrantha (Kunth) Rusby

Family: Asteraceae

Description: A fast growing, slender stemmed perennial vine or shrub with ribbed stems that root at the nodes. The leaves are opposite, heart shaped to triangular with a pointed tip; 4–13 centimetres long and 2–9 centimetres wide, with 3–7 veins and coarsely toothed margins, on a 2–8cm leaf stem. The flower heads are terminal and lateral panicles, surrounded by four bracts 2–4 millimetres long, occurring in groups of 40– 50, each with four white to greenish flowers, 4.5–6 millimetres long. The seeds are flat, black achenes, 1.5–2 millimetres long. A pappus of 32–38 white, 1.5–2 millimetre long bristles is attached to the seed.

Origin: Central America (Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama), South America (Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina), Caribbean (Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique and St. Lucia).

Distribution: Central and South America, Caribbean, south and south-east Asia (Bangladesh, Brunei, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand), Pacific (American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Federated States of Micronesia, New Caledonia, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna), Mauritius, Papua New Guinea, Australia (under eradication).

Habitat: Disturbed areas, forests, stream banks, roadsides, pastures, plantations and cultivated crops. Humid, sunny or shaded habitats; 0–2000m altitude.

Propagation and dispersal: Wind blown seed, stem fragments.

Rate of spread: Rapid. This species was found to be spreading during NAQS surveys of the western Province of Papua New Guinea in 2005.

Economic importance: One of the three worst weeds of tea in India and Indonesia and of rubber in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. Severe infestations in Samoa have led to the abandonment of coconut plantations. Is a host of squash mosaic comovirus, a serious pathogen affecting cucurbitaceae, one of the principal vegetable families grown in Malaysia. This species also a serious problem in oil palm, banana, cocoa and forestry crops, and in pastures and can encroach from the edges of paddies to smother rice crops. Thought to interfere with soil nitrification processes. This species has been nominated as among 100 of the ‘World’s Worst’ invaders, and is a national eradication target in Australia; declared noxious in the Northern Territory. Mikania spp. are declared noxious weeds in Queensland and prohibited in Western Australia.

References:

Northern Australian Quarantine Strategy (NAQS) 2005, NAQS News, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Canberra.

NAQS Weeds Target List 24 Hills, L.A. 1999, Agnote 535 Mile-a-minute, Northern Territory of Australia and the Department of Business, Industry and Resources, Darwin.

ISSG 2005, Mikania micrantha, ISSG Global Invasive Species Database, Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=42&fr=1&sts=sss, accessed 27 May, 2007.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2007, Mikania micrantha, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/mikania_micrantha.htm, accessed 1 June 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 25 Cordia curassavica (Jacq.) Roem. & Schult

Black sage

Synonyms: Cordia macrostachya (Jacq.) Roem. & Schult. Cordia verbenacea DC. Varronia curassavica Jacq. (basionym)

Family: Boraginaceae

Description: A 1-3 metre tall, odorous shrub with much branching, mainly at the base of the plant. The leaves are ovate, 5-10 centimetres long with pointed tips. The upper surface of the leaves is greyish green and rough on the upper surface but paler and finely, softly hairy below. The white flowers are about 5 millimetres across and develop sequentially along erect spikes at the tips of the stems, and are followed by red fleshy fruits about 5 millimetres across with a single stony seed.

Origin: Central America (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama), South America (Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Paraguay), Caribbean (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago).

Distribution: Central and South America, Caribbean, Malaysia, Mauritius, Christmas Island.

Habitat: Seedlings germinate in well-lit, disturbed areas and grow quickly.

Propagation and dispersal: Bird-dispersed seeds.

Economic importance: The dense thickets can prevent regeneration or crowd out native vegetation. Prior to the introduction of biological control agents, large tracts of Mauritius were covered by the weed in a dense scrub. In Malaysia, a management plan has been developed to control the weed.

References:

Director of National Parks, 2002 Christmas Island National Park Management Plan, Department of the Environment and Heritage, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra.

Fowler, S.V., Ganeshan, S., Mauremootoo, J. and Mungroo, Y. Biological Control of Weeds in Mauritius: Past Successes Revisited and Present Challenges in Spencer, N.R. (ed) 2000, Proceedings of the X International Symposium on Biological Control of Weeds, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Cordia curassavica, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/Pier/species/cordia_curassavica.htm, accessed 25 January 2007.

Simmonds, F.J. 1980, ‘Biological control of Cordia curassavica [Boraginaceae] in Malaysia’, BioControl, 25; 363-364

NAQS Weeds Target List 26 USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) . National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?430456, accessed 25 January 2007.

Wilson, C.G. and Cruttwell McFadyen, R.E. Biological Control in the Developing World: Safety and Legal Issues in Spencer, N.R. (ed) 2000, Proceedings of the X International Symposium on Biological Control of Weeds, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA.

NAQS Weeds Target List 27 Schoenoplectus juncoides (Roxb.) Palla

Rock bulrush; hardstem bulrush

Synonyms: Scirpus juncoides Roxb. Scirpus erectus (non Poir.) Clarke Scirpus luzunensis Presl

Family: Cyperaceae

Description: Clumping, tufted annual sedge 20–60 centimetres high with fibrous roots. Stems slender, ribbed, terete protruding beyond the inflorescence by 2–10 centimetres. The leaves are reduced to 2 or 3 membranous sheaths. The inflorescence is a sessile, ovoid spikelet, to 1 centimetre long; arranged in groups of 2–7 (rarely solitary) in lateral heads. The spikelets are many-flowered. The fruit is an obovoid, black or brown, shiny and unevenly biconvex nut; 2–2.5 by 1.5–1.75 millimetres in size.

Origin: South and east Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam), Pacific (Guam, Hawaiian islands, Palau), Madagascar.

Distribution: South and east Asia, Pacific, Madagascar, Fiji, Europe, the Middle East (around the Caspian sea), Russia.

Habitat: Wet areas; lowland swamps, open wet places and irrigated or tidal rice fields. Can withstand pronounced dry seasons 0–2000 metres altitude.

Propagation and dispersal: Nuts dispersed by water. Burial in mud or submergence enables optimum germination.

Rate of spread: Unknown. Capacity to spread vegetatively, and grow without mycorrhizal association allows them to persist in closed turf and stable communities.

Economic importance: This species is a serious weed in Afghanistan and a principal weed in Madagascar and Borneo. A serious weed of rice in China primarily a weed of rice paddies (China, India, Korea, Japan). Used as cattle fodder. This species is declared noxious in the Northern Territory.

References:

Labrada, R. 2002, ‘The need for improved weed management in rice’ Proceedings of the 20th Session of the International Rice Commission, Bangkok, Thailand.

Muthukumar, T., Udaiyan, K. and Shanmughavel, P. 2004, ‘Mycorrhiza in sedges—an overview’, Mycorrhiza 14: 65–77.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Schoenoplectus juncoides, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/schoenoplectus_juncoides.htm, accessed 11 January 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 28 USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN), National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?402881, accessed 11 January 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 29 Equisetum ramosissimum subsp. debile (Vaucher) Hauke

Branched scouringrush

Synonyms: Equisetum debile Vaucher

Family: Equisetaceae

Description: A fern ally with many hollow, fluted aerial stems growing from a perennial rootstock. The stems are evergreen, with leaf pores arranged in lines. The leaves are minute and are whorled to form toothed cylindrical or dilated sheaths; as the sheaths mature, the teeth break off to leave a shortened margin. The fruit are terminal cones, bearing spores.

Origin: South and south-east Asia (Cambodia, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam).

Distribution: Asia, Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea.

Habitat: Adult plants will tolerate variable conditions. Occurs in the margins of waterlogged areas such as rice terraces and bunds, tea plantations and roadsides. Found along mountain streams and paths from sea level to above 3000 metres in China.

Propagation and dispersal: By spores and vegetative growth from rhizomes fragmented during cultivation.

Rate of spread: Young sporophytes require moisture to germinate and survive and will spread to form dense cover under moist conditions.

Economic importance: A weed of tea plantations in central Sumatra (Indonesia) and rice in the Philippines, toxic to livestock. This is a known ‘weedy’ genus, with species among some of the world’s worst agricultural weeds.

Equisetum ramoissimum is a declared noxious weed in the Northern Territory. Equisetum spp are declared weeds in all Australian States.

References:

Hassler, M. and Swale, B. 2002, Equisetum species (horsetails) in the world, Checklist of World Ferns and fern allies, http://homepages.caverock.net.nz/~bj/fern/equisetum.htm, accessed 23 January 2007.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Equisetum ramosissimum, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/Pier/species/equisetum_ramosissimum_subsp_debile.htm, accessed 23 January 2007.

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN), National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?409918, accessed 23 January 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 30 Waterhouse, B.M. 2003, ‘Know your enemy: recent records of potentially serious weeds in northern Australia, Papua New Guinea and Papua (Indonesia)’, Telopea 10: 477-485.

NAQS Weeds Target List 31 Croton hirtus L’Hérit.

Croton

Synonyms: Croton glandulosus var. hirtus L’Hérit. Mull. Arg

Family: Euphorbiaceae

Description: An erect annual herb to 1.2 metres tall, offensive-smelling. Stems are covered in rigid hairs 2–3 millimetres long. Leaves hairy in star-shaped patterns on both sides, ovate-rhombic, 2.5–7.5 by 1–5 centimetres, with toothed margins; leaf base glandular, with two stalked glands at petiole apex. Flowers in terminal racemes 1.5– 4 centimetres long. Female flowers at base of raceme, green; calyx persistent, unequal-lobed; flowers tiny or absent. Male flowers are higher in the raceme; flower corolla lobes 5, white, with 10 or 11 conspicuous, white stamens. The fruit is a 3- lobed, dehiscent, globular capsule, about 4 millimetres in diameter. The seeds are 3 millimetres long, shiny grey-brown, finely and reticulately ribbed, with a tiny white aril.

Origin: Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama), South America (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela), Caribbean (Dominica, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago).

Distribution: Central and South America, Caribbean, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea (Laloki valley).

Habitat: Sunny to lightly shaded positions. Disturbed land including roadsides, gardens, pastures and cultivated areas; sometimes abundant. 0-700 metres altitude.

Propagation and dispersal: Seeds dispersed by ants.

Rate of spread: Grows in dense stands of up to 100 plants per square metre.

Economic importance: A principal weed in Malaysia. Invades orchards, tea plantations upland rice, tobacco, peanuts and vegetable crops in Southeast Asia. One of the dominant weeds of sugarcane in Indonesia. It is also a host of squash mosaic comovirus, a serious pathogen affecting cucurbitaceae, one of the principal vegetable families grown in Malaysia. This species was detected in Queensland in 2004, and has been under local eradication, with no other infestation sites detected. Croton hirtus is declared noxious in the Northern Territory.

References:

Kuntohartono, T., Sasongko, D., and Chudjaemi, D. dan M. 1990, ‘Weed survey in cane field of Cintamanis sugar factory in 1989/1990 crop year’, Majalah Perusahaan Gula 26: 9-19.

North Australia Quarantine Strategy 2004, NAQS Year in Review – News from the AQIS North Australia Quarantine Strategy, Issue 22, Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2003, Croton hirtus, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/croton_hirtus.htm, accessed 27 June 2006.

NAQS Weeds Target List 32 Ramachandran, V. S., Ravikumar, K. and Balasubramanian 1992, ‘Croton hirtus l'Herit. (Euphorbiaceae): a new record for India’, Indian Journal of Forestry 15: 183-185.

Sidek, Z., Barin, J., and Sulaiman, I. 1999, ‘Weed hosts of cucurbit viruses’, Agro-search 6(1).

Soontornchainaksaeng, P., Chantaranothai, P. and Senakun, C. 2003, ‘Genetic diversity of Croton L. (Euphorbiaceae) in Thailand’, Cytologia 68: 379-382.

Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Tropical Biology 2004, Croton hirtus, National Biodiversity Information Network, http://nbin.biotrop.org/species_detail.php?id_species=1162, accessed 27 June 2006.

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN). National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?418059, accessed 1 June 2006.

NAQS Weeds Target List 33 Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC

Synonyms: Stizolobium hirsutum (Wright & Arn.) Kuntze Mucuna prurita Hook. Stizolobium pruritum Piper & Tracy Dolichos pruriens L.

Family: Fabaceae

Description: An annual or semi-perennial leguminous vine, scrambling, sometimes ascending to the tops of trees. Leaves alternate, trifoliate; petiole 2–4 centimetres in length. The leaflets are rhomboid-ovate, 5–9 by 3.5–17 centimetres; paired stipels below each leaflet; leaves blacken on drying. The inflorescence has silvery hairs is a raceme 2– 29 centimetres long, on a stem 2–18 centimetres long. The flowers are 2–3 per node, 3.2–3.7 centimetres long with a silvery hairy calyx and purplish black corolla. The fruit is a curved, longitudinally ribbed pod, 4–9 by 1–1.5 centimetres; covered with irritant, bristly hairs which are easily dislodged. The seeds are oblong-ellipsoidal, compressed, shiny pinkish brown to speckled black; 1–1.9 centimetres long, 0.8–1.3 centimetres wide and 4–6.5 millimetres thick.

Origin: Tropical and southern Africa (Chad, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Kenya Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Zaire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Angola, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Madagascar), south and south-east Asia (Bhutan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia,Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam), Papua New Guinea, Christmas Island, Solomon Islands.

Distribution: Tropical and southern Africa, south and south-east Asia, Papua New Guinea, Christmas Island, Solomon Islands, central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama), Colombia, Ecuador, Japan, China, Pacific (Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Hawaii, New Caledonia, Northern Mariana Islands), Indian Ocean (La Reunion, Mauritius, Seychelles), Australia (Queensland).

Habitat: Grasslands, bushland riverine forest, forest margins and abandoned cultivation.

Propagation and dispersal: Attractive, shiny dark brown seeds, possibly moved by people.

Rate of spread: Unknown, but var. utilis is used as a fallow crop to suppress an aggressive weed, Imperata cylindrica, indicating the ability of M. pruriens to spread and form dense cover.

Economic importance: A serious weed in Mexico and Mozambique and a principal weed of Jamaica and Madagascar. It can form woody thickets and smother vegetation. The irritant bristles on the pods can cause severe skin irritation if touched, and death of livestock if consumed. In Indonesia, fields are burned prior to cultivation to avoid contact with the bristly pods. Note M. pruriens var. utilis has been widely utilised as a green manure crop, and has been tested in Queensland where it has become weedy. It rarely has irritant hairs, unlike var. pruriens and hirsuta. The varieties are difficult to distinguish. Noted as a potential environmental weed in Australia.

References:

NAQS Weeds Target List 34 Csurhes, S. and Edwards, R. 1998, Potential Environmental Weeds in Australia Candidate Species for Preventative Control, Environment Australia, Canberra.

ILDIS Co-ordinating Centre, 2005, International Legume Database & Information Service, http://www.ildis.org/, accessed 27 June 2006.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Mucuna pruriens, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/mucuna_pruriens.htm, accessed 27 January 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 35 Clerodendrum chinense (Osbeck) Mabb.

Stickbush, glory bower, Honolulu rose, Spanish jasmine

Synonyms: Clerodendrum fragrans (Hort. ex Vent.) Willd. Clerodendrum philippinum Schauer

Family: Lamiaceae

Description: A perennial shrub up to 2 metres tall. The branches are 4-angled and densely hairy. Leaves are opposite, broadly ovate, 6-29 centimetres long, 5-28 centimetres wide, with sharp, stiff hairs on the upper surface, margins irregularly dentate, base cordate to truncate, apex acute to acuminate and leaf stems 2-23 centimetres long. The flowers have single or double rows of petals, fragrant and numerous in dense, terminal cymose inflorescences. They often have a pair of leaf-like, oblong or elliptic bracts, 1.5-3 centimetres long. The flower calyx is purple or red, 10 – 25 millimetres long, 5-lobed, and hairy, with several large glands. The lobes are lanceolate and 7 – 16 millimetres. The flower corolla is white to pink and the stamens and ovary are usually modified into extra petals.

Origin: Southern China and northern Vietnam.

Distribution: China, Vietnam, Pacific Islands (American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Hawaii, Niue, Samoa, Tonga), Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, USA, Puerto Rico and Nicaragua.

Habitat: Open, wet, partly shaded, disturbed areas at the edges of mesic and wet forests. A major weed of roadsides and gardens, the shrub can rapidly invade pastures and plantations. It grows at sea level to elevations of 900 metres and is best suited to high rainfall (greater 1000 millimetres) and tropical to sub-tropical climates.

Propagation and dispersal: Primarily root suckers.

Economic importance: The shrub is a weed in West Polynesia, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Fiji and the United States. It is also a weed in the Cook Islands, Niue and the Federated States of Micronesia. It is spreading and becoming a weed of importance in Fiji. C. chinense has the potential to form dense thickets that might prevent regeneration of native plant species and is known to be a highly invasive weed of disturbed areas.

References:

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Clerondendrum chinense, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/Pier/species/clerodendrum_chinense.htm, accessed 8 January 2007.

Wu, Z.Y. and Raven, P.H., eds. 1994, Flora of China. Vol. 17 (Verbenaceae through Solanaceae), Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

NAQS Weeds Target List 36 NAQS Weeds Target List 37 Leucas aspera (Willd.) Link

Pansi-pansi, Feng chao cao

Synonyms: Leucas plukenetii (Roth) Spreng. Phlomis aspera Willd. (basionym) Phlomis plukenetii Roth

Family: Lamiaceae Description: An erect or diffusely branched annual herb 20-40 centimetres tall with stems covered in short, bristly hairs. The leaf blade is linear or oblong-linear, 2.5 centimetres long and 0.8-1.5 centimetres wide with a blunt tip and scalloped margins. The flower calyx is tubular with linear bracts and both calyx and bracts are around one centimetre long. The globose flower whorls are terminal and axillary, to 2.5 centimetres in diameter and crowded with white flowers. The corolla is white and slightly longer than the calyx tube with a spreading lower lip; the middle lobe is the largest. The shiny, 3-sided nutlets are brown and oblong, around 2 millimetres. Flowers and fruit are present all year. Origin: South and south-east Asia (Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam) Mauritius, Papua New Guinea. Distribution: South and south-east Asia, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea. Habitat: Fields, open wet areas, sandy grasslands; around 100 metres elevation. Propagation and dispersal: Seed. Rate of spread: Unknown. Economic importance: An important medicinal plant in traditional medicine in South East Asia and India. A weed of wasteland and roadsides in India and an important weed of overgrazed areas in Papua New Guinea.

References:

Mangathayaru, K., Thirumurugan, D., Patel, P.S., Pratap, D.V., David, D.J. and Karthikeyan, J. 2006, ‘Isolation and identification of nicotine from leucas aspera (willd) link’, Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences 68: 88-90.

Wu, Z.Y. and Raven, P.H. eds. 1994, Flora of China. Vol. 17 (Verbenaceae through Solanaceae), Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

Republic of the Phillipines Department of Agriculture Bureau of Plant Industry 2006, Leucas aspera (Willd.)Spreug. Medicinal Plants of the Phillipines, http://www.bpi.da.gov.ph/Publications/mp/pdf/p/pansi-pansi.pdf, accessed 4 October, 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 38 USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) . National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?401732, accessed 1 June 2006.

NAQS Weeds Target List 39 Limnocharis flava (L.) Buchenau

Sawah-lettuce, velvetleaf, yellow bur-head

Synonyms: Alisma flavum L. (basionym) Limnocharis emarginata Bonpl.

Family: Limnocharitaceae

Description: An erect, clump-forming herb with stems and foliage 20–100 centimetres tall, rooting in the mud and strongly tillering. Where moisture is present year-round it is perennial, but annual in ephemeral water-bodies and sites with pronounced dry seasons. The basal, rounded leaf blades are 5–30 centimetres long by 4–25 centimetres wide and are transversely lattice-veined. The leaf stalk is 5–75 centimetres long with a sheathing leaf base. The leaf and inflorescence stalks are triangular. The axillary inflorescences are on long, 'octopus-like' stems and comprise 5–15, pale yellow flowers in each umbel. The flowers are subtended by membranous bracts and the sepals and petals in groups of 3, with more than 15 stamens surrounded by a whorl of staminodes. The inflorescences are held erect when flowering but recurve after fruiting until they reach the mud or water. Spherical 1.5– 2 centimetre diameter, compound capsules develop after flowering and eventually split into crescent-shaped segments, each containing numerous horseshoe-shaped, 1– 1.5 millimetre long, brown transversely ridged seeds.

Origin: Central America (Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama), Caribbean (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti), South America (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela).

Distribution: Central and South America, Caribbean, south and south-east Asia (Brunei, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam), Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Australia (under eradication).

Habitat: Wet areas; wetlands, fresh water pools, rice paddies and irrigation ditches.

Propagation and dispersal: Mature fruit and individual segments float for several days, scattering seeds as they float downstream. Vegetative plantlets develop from the central inflorescence bud and either root in the mud below or break off and float away to form new infestations. This plant may be spread by people for aquatic plant displays, or in South East Asia as a green vegetable.

Rate of spread: Found to be spreading during NAQS surveys of Papua New Guinea with recordings in the Western Province in 2003 and in the Sandaun Province in 2005. A single fruit produces around 1000 seeds and a single plant produces around 1000 fruit each year. Fruiting takes place throughout the year.

Economic importance: Grown as a vegetable in Java and Vietnam. It has been shown to be of high nutritional value in Vietnam. This species has become a serious weed of rice in Venezuela, India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka and is a serious environmental weed from India throughout Southeast Asia to Indonesia, and the USA. The species can clog irrigation tanks, channels and drainage ditches and obstruct the flow of water from rice fields during heavy rainfall, resulting in damage to crops from submergence. Has been found to be resistant to Phenoxy herbicides in Malaysia and the Phillipines. Some cultivated plants and several small, naturalised populations were discovered in the Cairns and Townsville districts of north Queensland in 2001/2002, the first

NAQS Weeds Target List 40 record for Australia. Limnocharis flava is the target of nationally funded eradication campaign in Queensland, and is declared noxious in New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory and is prohibited in Western Australia.

References:

Abhilash, P.C. 2005, Limnocharis flava, School of Environmental Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India & Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=620&fr=1&sts=sss, accessed 3 October 2007.

Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Australian Weed Management 2003, Weed of the Month – Limnocharis flava, CRC for Australian Weed Management, http://www.weeds.crc.org.au/main/wom_limnocharis.html, accessed 5 July, 2006.

Gall, S. and Wilson, C. 2000, Yellow sawah lettuce: (Limnocharis flava) - Agnote - Northern Territory of Australia. Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Northern Territory of Australia, Darwin, Australia: 609, 2.

Labrada, R. 2002, ‘The need for improved weed management in rice’, Proceedings of the 20th Session of the International Rice Commission, Bangkok, Thailand.

Karthigeyan, K., Sumathi, R., Jayanthi, J., Diwakar, P.G. and, Lakra, G.S. 2004, ‘Limnocharis flava (L.) Buchenau (Alismataceae) - a little known and troublesome weed in Andaman Islands’, Current Science 87: 140-141

North Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (NAQS) 2005, NAQS Year in review 2004-05, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Canberra.

Ogle, B.M., Ha Thi Anh Dao, Mulokozi, G. and Hambraeus, L. 2001, ‘Micronutrient composition and nutritional importance of gathered vegetables in Vietnam’, International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition 52: 485-499.

Ortiz Dominguez, A. and Gonzalez, L. 2001, ‘Preliminary study of weed seed banks of certain soils of rice areas of Calabozo, Guarico. Agronomia Tropical (Maracay)’. Fondo Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (FONAIAP) 51: 501-517.

NAQS Weeds Target List 41 Waterhouse, B.M. and Mitchell, A.A. 1998, Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy Weeds Target List. AQIS Miscellaneous Publication no. 6/9: Canberra.

NAQS Weeds Target List 42 Rotala indica (Willd.) Keohne

Indian toothcup

Synonyms: Peplis indica Willd. (basionym) Ammania nana Roxb. Ammania peploides Spreng.

Family: Lythraceae

Description: Terrestrial or aquatic annual herb. Stems quadrangular, erect or creeping, 10–40 centimetres long, leaves opposite, oblong to ovate, 4–15 millimetres wide, with leaf stalk short, or absent. The flowers are axillary, solitary or in short, dense spikes, subtended by linear leafy bracts. The flower calyx is 2–3 millimetres long, tubular with 4 triangular lobes. Petals 4, pinkish or white, tiny and inconspicuous. Stamens 2–6, attached deep in calyx tube. The fruit is a 2–valved elliptic capsule, 0.8–1.5 millimetres, containing numerous tiny, pear-shaped seeds.

Origin: Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia

Distribution: Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam. Widespread throughout Indonesia, but not yet recorded in Irian Jaya. Also grows in subtropical to temperate regions including the Middle East (Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan), southern Europe (Italy, Portugal) and North America.

Habitat: Wet areas such as rice fields, river banks, ditches and waterlogged grasslands. 0– 1000 metres altitude. Land plant or water plant, rooted in the substrate, partially submerged.

Propagation and dispersal: Seeds and plant fragments dispersed by water and externally attached to waterbirds. May be dispersed by aquatic plant enthusiasts.

Rate of spread: Unknown, however this plant is favoured for aquarium culture because it rapidly spreads and has hardy, vigorous growth.

Economic importance: Serious weed of rice in Afghanistan, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Philippines and Chinese Taipei. Troublesome in the USA. Resistant to some herbicides in Japan and Korea. This species is declared noxious in the Northern Territory.

References:

Ibiq Dar, M. 1975, ‘Lythraceae’, Flora of Pakistan 78.

Kuk, Y.I., Kwon, O.D., Jung, H.I., Burgos, N.R. and Guh, J.O. 2002, Cross-resistance pattern and alternative herbicides for Rotala indica resistant to imazosulfuron in Korea. Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology, 74: 129-138.

Kuk, Y.I., Lee, D.J. and Kwon, O.D. 2002, Resistant responses of the remaining weeds to sulfonylurea herbicides in Jeonnam, Korea, Korean Journal of Weed Science, 22: 163-171.

NAQS Weeds Target List 43 Labrada, R. 2002, ‘The need for improved weed management in rice’, Proceedings of the 20th Session of the International Rice Commission, Bangkok, Thailand.

Li, M.S. and Jin, F.Y. 2000, ‘Occurrence of weeds in early transplanted rice by seedling- broadcasting and their control in Wenzhou, Zhejiang’, Acta Agriculturae Zhejiangensis, 12: 352- 356.

RBGE 1998, Flora Europaea, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, http://rbg- web2.rbge.org.uk/FE/fe.html#instructions, accessed 6 July, 2006.

Tan, N.T, Son, N.H., Trung, H.M., Auld, B.A. and Hetherington, S.D. 2000, ‘Weed flora of water rice in the Red River Delta, Vietnam’, International Journal of Pest Management, 46: 285-287.

NAQS Weeds Target List 44 Clidemia hirta (L.) D. Don

Koster’s curse, soap bush.

Synonyms: Melastoma hirtum L.

Family: Melastomataceae

Description: Bushy perennial shrub to 175 centimetres tall; whole plant covered in spreading, reddish, bristly hairs. Leaves opposite, broadest about the middle, elliptic, 5–14 centimetres long by 4–7 centimetres wide, hairy and wrinkled between the 5 conspicuous longitudinal veins. The flowers are bristly, in axillary and terminal clusters. The calyx has 5 thread-like appendages; petals 4, white, 6–9 millimetres long; stamens 8–10, white, with anthers 4–5 millimetres long. The fruit is a many seeded red-purple to blackish-blue berry, 4–5 millimetres in diameter. The seeds are light yellow to brown.

Origin: Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama), South America (Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela).

Distribution: Central and South America, south-east Asia (Brunei, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore), Pacific (America Samoa, Fiji, Hawaii, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Wallis and Fatuna), Indian Ocean (La Reunion, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles), Australia (under eradication).

Habitat: A weed of cultivation, pasture, plantations and disturbed areas within forests. Shade- tolerant, preferring moist environments. 0–1300 metres altitude.

Propagation and dispersal: Seeds are dispersed by birds and flood.

Rate of spread: Rapid. There are about 300 seeds per fruit.

Economic importance: A highly invasive shrub that is a pest of plantations, pastures and natural environments in humid tropical regions. A serious weed in Melanesia and principal weed in Fiji, Hawaii, Madagascar and Malaysia. It has been proclaimed noxious in Hawaii and Fiji. The foliage is toxic to livestock. Biological control has been partially successful using the thrip Liothrips urichi in Fiji and Hawaii, and the fungus Colletotrichum gloeosporioides f. sp. clidemiae has also been successful in Hawaii. Other agents are under investigation. Used as a medicinal plant for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Brazil. This species has been nominated as among 100 of the ‘World’s Worst’ invaders. Recorded for the first time in Australia in 2002. This species is the target of nationally funded eradication campaign in Queensland; declared in Queensland and the Northern Territory and prohibited in Western Australia.

References:

Cordero, M. 2003, ‘Morphometrics of a population of Xiphinema brasiliense (Nematoda, Dorylaimida) from Tachira, Venezuela’, Nematologia Mediterranea 31: 39-41.

NAQS Weeds Target List 45 Franca, F., Lago, E.L., Marsden, P.D. 1996, ‘Plants used in the treatment of leishmanial ulcers due to Leishmania (Vannia) braziliensis in an endemic area of Bahia, Brazil’, Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical 29: 229-232.

Gerlach, J. 2006, Clidemia hirta, The Nature Protection Trust of Seychelles, Cambridge, UK & Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp? si=53&fr=1&sts=sss, accessed 7 January, 2007.

Murdiati, T.B., McSweeney, C.S. and Lowry, J.B. 1991, ‘Complexing of toxic hydrolysable tannins of yellow-wood (Terminalia oblongata) and harendong (Clidemia hirta) with reactive substances: an approach to preventing toxicity’, Journal of Applied Toxicology 11: 333-338.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2007, Clidemia hirta, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/clidemia_hirta.htm, accessed 8 September 2007.

Trujillo, E.E. 2005, ‘History and success of plant pathogens for biological control of introduced weeds in Hawaii’, Biological Control 33: 113-122.

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) . National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?10919, accessed 7 January, 2007.

Yang, S.Z. 2001. ‘A new record and invasive species in Taiwan - Clidemia hirta (L.) D. Don.’ Taiwania 46: 232-237.

NAQS Weeds Target List 46 Miconia calvescens DC.

Miconia, velvet tree

Synonyms: Miconia magnifica Triana Merremia magnifica Triana Cyanophyllum magnificum Groenland

Description: An evergreen, medium-sized tree 4-15 metres in height. Leaves are opposite and up to 80 centimetres long, oblong-elliptic in shape, shortly blunt and acuminate at the apex and obtuse to rounded at the base. Leaves are dark green above with three prominent pale green nerves (one in the mid-rib and one either side) and in some forms the leaf is purple-blue beneath. Flowers are small, white, slightly fragrant, arranged in large panicles 20-30 centimetres long. The calyx is 3 millimetres long and petals 2-3 millimetres long. The fleshy berries are 7mm in diameter and purple- black when mature, with up to 500 fruits per panicle and 200 seeds per fruit. All stages of flowering and fruiting can occur on a single tree.

Origin: Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama), South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru), Trinidad and Tobago.

Distribution: Central and South America, Caribbean (Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago), Pacific (French Polynesia, Hawaii, Galapagos Islands, New Caledonia), Sri Lanka, Australia (under eradication).

Habitat: Moist and wet forests from sea level to 1800 metres elevation. Early successional tree of wet thickets and dense mixed forests. Coastland, disturbed areas, natural forests, planted forests, riparian zones, scrub/shrublands, urban areas, wetlands.

Propagation and dispersal: Fruits are eaten and the seed dispersed by frugivorous birds and rodents. Individual birds can carry thousands of seeds at least up to two kilometres. Long distance dispersal by birds is suspected but unproven. Humans have also transported this species long distances, with the tree used in gardens as an ornamental. Seeds can also be spread by attaching to shoes, equipment/machinery, cars and boats.

Rate of spread: Seedlings have been reported growing in rainforest margins up to 250 metres from parent specimens. The seeds can live for more than 10 years in soil with a soil seed bank of more than 50,000 seeds per square metre. Although photo-sensitive, seeds can germinate even in dense shade with germination rate up to 90% in 15-20 days and first year of flowering after 4 to 5 years of vegetative growth.

Economic importance: Forms dense monospecific stands shading out native vegetation with its large leaves, and suppressing the growth and regeneration of the native species in the understory. It’s attractive foliage has seen it introduced as an ornamental plant. Such an introduction into Tahiti has led to it now covering more than 70% of the island. There are between 40 to 50 rare endemic plant species that are directly threatened by this weed in Tahiti (Society Is.). The tentacular root system is also suspected to favour soil erosion and landslides.

In Australia, it is grown in both public and private collections; it is grown commercially by a small number of specialist nurseries from northern coastal New

NAQS Weeds Target List 47 South Wales and northern Queensland. It exists in botanic gardens in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Cairns. The plant has naturalised in north Queensland near El Arish and Mossman and seedlings have been reported growing in rainforest margins up to 250 metres from parent specimens. Modelling the plant's potential distribution using the CLIMEX computer software suggested that it could spread over much of coastal, tropical north Queensland. In Tahiti, the plant's seeds are dispersed by frugiverous birds, especially the silvereye (Zosterops lateralis). Silvereyes are also common in eastern Australia and are expected to act as a dispersal vector for the plant.

This species has been nominated as among 100 of the "World's Worst" invaders. Miconia spp. are declared weeds in New South Wales, Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory. This species is a national eradication target in Australia.

References:

Csurches, S. and Edwards, R. 1998, Potential Environmental Weeds in Australia, Candidate Species for Preventative Control, National Weeds Program, Queensland Department of Natural Resources.

Land Protection 2007, Miconia, Queensland Government Department of Natural Resources and Water, http://www.nrw.qld.gov.au/factsheets/pdf/pest/pp142.pdf, accessed 8 October 2007.

Medeiros, A.C., Loope, L.L., Conant, P. and McElvaney, S. 1997, ‘Status, Ecology, and Management of the Invasive Plant, Miconia calvescens DC (Melastomataceae) in the Hawaiian Islands’ Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 1996. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 48: 23-36.

Meyer, J-Y. 2006, Miconia calvescens, Conservatoire Botanique National de Mascarin (CBNM), Domaine des Colimaçons & Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?fr=1&si=2&sts=, accessed 8 October 2007.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006. Miconia calvescens. Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/Pier/species/miconia_calvescens.htm, accessed 2 January 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 48 Neptunia plena (L.) Benth.

Water dead and awake; water sensitive

Synonyms: Mimosa plena L. (basionym) Desmanthus plenus (L.) Willd

Family: Mimosaceae/Fabaceae

Description: An aquatic mimosoid legume, perennial non-climbing shrub with a surface-floating growth habit, nodulated adventitious roots and a thick taproot. The pinnate leaves have a gland on the leaf stalk below the first pair of leaflets, which distinguishes N. plena from N. oleracea, in which the gland is absent. The flower heads are ovoid and 2 centimetres in size. Bisexual flowers occur on the upper part and are neuter at base. The flower calyx is campanulate, about 1.5 millimetres and 5-dentate. Petals are lanceolate, 3 millimetres, fused at base. There are 10 stamens; filaments approxmiately 6 millilmetres. Pods are oblong, 5-10 centimetres long, 1.6-2 centimetres wide, with 5-20 seeds. Flowering from August to October and fruit between October/November.

Origin: Caribbean (Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago), Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama), South America (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela), USA (Texas).

Distribution: Caribbean, central and South America, USA, India, Indonesia (Sulawesi), Malay Peninsula, Singapore, Sri Lanka.

Habitat: Wetlands, swamps and marshes, water-logged or flooded areas.

Propagation and dispersal: Seed and rooting from lower leaf nodes and vegetative parts.

Economic importance: A serious wetland weed and an ornamental aquarium plant. Infestations found on Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is susceptible to defoliation by the leaf-feeding moth Macaria pallidata in its native range. M. pallidata is an agent introduced into Australia for the biocontrol of Mimosa species.

References:

CABI 2002, ‘Mimosa Leaves Niche for New Agents’, Biocontrol News and Information, 23 (4), http://www.pestscience.com/BNI23-4/Gennews.htm accessed 5 October, 2007.

IDLIS 2005, Neptunia plena, International Legume Database and Information Service, http://www.ildis.org/LegumeWeb?sciname=Neptunia+plena, accessed 13 September 2007.

Morton, J. (ed) 2006, ‘Other weeds worth keeping an eye out for…’, Weed Spotters Newsletter 4, CRC Weed Management, http://www.weeds.crc.org.au/documents/weed_spotters_winter06_newsletter.pdf, accessed 5 October 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 49 Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy (NAQS) 2002, NAQS Year in Review 2001-02, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Canberra.

Pandit, M.K., Tan, H.T.W. and Bisht, M.S. 2006, ‘Polyploidy in invasive plant species of Singapore’, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 151: 395–403.

Wu, Z.Y., Raven, P.H. and Hong, D.Y. In Preparation, Flora of China Vol. 10 (Fabaceae). Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

NAQS Weeds Target List 50 Boerhavia erecta L.

Erect tar vine

Synonyms:

Family: Nyctaginaceae

Description: Perennial, erect herb to one metre tall, with a robust taproot. The stems are terete, thickened at nodes, green or purple, commonly sticky. Leaves in unequal pairs, petiolate, glandular, finely hairy, 10–40 millimetres long by 5–25 millimetres wide (larger leaves) and 5–30 millimetres long by 4–20 millimetres wide (smaller leaves). The inflorescence of axillary and terminal panicles, or umbel-like inflorescence has 3-9 flowers per group. The perianth is constricted about the middle, green and persistent below, upper parts white to pink, 5-lobed and falling at maturity. The fruit is around 4 millimetres long, thin-walled, ribbed becoming sticky when wet, containing a single, club-shaped, longitudinally-ribbed seed.

Origin: Caribbean (Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Virgin Islands), central America (Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama), South America (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela), USA.

Distribution: Caribbean, central and South America, USA, Africa (Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe), south and south-east Asia (China, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore), Pacific (Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Solomon Islands), Papua New Guinea, Christmas Island.

Habitat: Open, sunny places in disturbed forests, pastures, cultivated land, roadsides and foreshores. Tolerates arid conditions, present mostly in regions of seasonal rainfall, sandy soils. 0 – 2100 metres altitude.

Propagation and dispersal: The sticky fruit are dispersed externally by animals, including birds and humans. Potential seed contaminant.

Rate of spread: Rapid.

Economic importance: A serious weed in Honduras, Kenya and Mexico. A principal weed of Colombia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Peru and Venezuela. A serious weed of annual crops. One of the dominant weeds species of maize in Papua New Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria and the Philippines. Used as pig fodder in the Americas. Used in traditional medicine in Africa and other countries. Potential habitat for mosquitoes. This species is declared noxious in the Northern Territory.

References:

Basedow, T. and Krull, S. 2005, ‘The occurrence of weeds and the composition and abundance of predatory arthropods in newly sown maize fields in the Central Province of Papua New Guinea’, Zeitschrift fur Pflanzenkrankheiten und Pflanzenschutz, 112: 304-311.

NAQS Weeds Target List 51 Chikoye, D., Schulz, S. and Ekeleme, F. 2004, ‘Evaluation of integrated weed management practices for maize in the northern Guinea savanna of Nigeria’, Crop Protection, 23: 895-900.

Chou, F.S., Liu, H.Y. and Sheue, C.R. 2004, ‘Boerhavia erecta L. (Nyctaginaceae), a new adventive plant in Taiwan’, Taiwania, 49: 39-43.

Dissemond, A. and Hindorf, H. 1990, ‘Weed population in intercrops of maize (Zea mays L.), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp) at Mbita, Kenya’, Angewandte Botanik, 64: 133-138.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2007, Boerhavia erecta, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/boerhavia_erecta.htm, accessed 9 October 2007.

Pamplona, P.P. 1988, ‘Weed control management in corn in the Philippines’, Proceedings of the third Asian regional maize workshop 3: 148-159.

Spellenberg, R.W. 2004, Boerhavia, In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+, Flora of North America North of Mexico 12+ vols New York and Oxford. Vol. 4. p17.

Stintzing, F.C., Kammerer, D., Schieber, A., Adama, H., Nacoulma, O.G. and Carle, R. 2004, ‘Betacyanins and phenolic compounds from Amaranthus spinosus L. and Boerhavia erecta L.’, Zeitschrift fur Naturforschung. 59: 1-8.

Wu, Z.Y., Raven, P.H. and Hong, D.Y. eds. 2003, Flora of China. Vol. 5 (Ulmaceae through Basellaceae), Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

NAQS Weeds Target List 52 Aeginetia indica L.

Synonyms:

Family: Orobanchaceae

Description: Plants of this species are 15-50 centimetres tall. Roots are slightly fleshy, with small branches. Stems are unbranched or branched from near base. Leaves are red, ovate- lanceolate or lanceolate, 5-10 millimetres long, 3-4 millimetres wide and glabrous. Flowers are usually solitary. The flower stalk is usually erect, 10-40 centimetres long and approximately 3 millimetres in diameter. The flower corolla is purple-red striate, indistinctly bilabiate, tubular-campanulate and 2-4.5 centimetres long. The corolla tube is slightly curved and the lobes subentire. Filaments are purple, 7-9 millimetres and glabrous and anthers are yellow. The style is 1-1.5 centimetres and the stigma is pale yellow. The fruit is a conical or long ovoid-globose capsule and is 2-3 centimetres long. The seeds are yellow, ellipsoid and approximately 0.04 millimetres.

Origin: South and east Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam).

Distribution: South and east Asia.

Habitat: Low mountain slopes, grassy lowlands, wet, swampy ground, forests, roadsides; 200-1800 metres.

Propagation and dispersal: The tiny seeds of this group of parasitic plants are mostly dispersed by wind, rain or in soil and vegetatively from transported plant parts.

Economic importance: This species parasitizes bamboo roots, short grasses and crops such as rice, maize and sugarcane. The roots and flowers are used medicinally for clearing away heat and toxic materials. Extracts from seeds of this species may have properties that reduce the growth of malignant tumours and increase immune system activity.

References:

Flora of China Editorial Committee, eds. 1998, Flora of China. Vol. 18 (Scrophulariaceae through Gesneriaceae),Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

Ohe, G., Okamoto, M., Oshikawa, T., Furuichi, S., Nishikawa, H., Tano, T., Uyama, K., Bando, T., Yoshida, H., Sakai, T., Himeno, K., Sato, M. and Ohkubo, S. 2001, ‘Th1-cytokine induction and anti-tumor effect of 55 kDa protein isolated from Aeginetia indica L., a parasitic plant’ Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy, 50: 251-259.

Scher, Federal Noxious Weed Disseminules of the U.S. USDA/APHIS, http://www.lucidcentral.org/keys/FNW/FNW%20seeds/html/fact%20sheets/Aeginetia.htm, accessed 15 October 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 53 Suwa H., Suzuji, Y., Zhang, Y.H., Murofushi, N. and Takeuchi, Y. 1995, ‘Endogenous gibberellins in Aeginetia indica, a parasitic plant, and its host, Miscanthus sinensis’, Bioscience, Biotechnology and Biochemistry 59: 1712-1715.

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) . National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?413728, accessed 15 October 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 54 Piper aduncum L.

Spiked pepper, false kava

Synonyms: Piper angustifolium Ruiz & Pav. Piper celtidifolium Kunth Piper elongatum Vahl

Family: Piperaceae

Description: This species is a small tree to 7 metres tall, with short stilt roots and soft, brittle wood; foliage and aromatic twigs. The branches are erect, but with drooping twigs and swollen, purplish nodes. The leaves are alternate, arranged in two vertical rows, elliptic, 12–22 centimetres long, with a short leaf stalk and sunken nerves, softly hairy beneath. Inflorescence a leaf-opposed, curved spike on a 12–17 centimetre stalk, white to pale yellow, turning green with maturity. Flowers are crowded in regular transverse ranks. The fruit is a 1-seeded berry, blackish when ripe. The seeds are brown to black, 0.7–1.25 millimetres long, compressed, with a reticulate surface.

Origin: Caribbean (Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Puerto Rico, St. Vincent and Grenadines), central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama) and South America (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela).

Distribution: Caribbean, central and South America, Pacific (Fiji, Galapagos Islands, Hawaii, Kiribati, Solomon Islands), Indonesia, Malaysia, USA, Papua New Guinea, Christmas Island.

Habitat: Invader of disturbed areas; disturbed rainforest and margins at low elevations, particularly moderate to high rainfall areas. Aggressive coloniser of clearings. 0– 2000 metres altitude.

Propagation and dispersal: Birds, bats and other vertebrates disperse the seeds. Spreads also by sprouts and suckers. Has been introduced to new locations (e.g. Christmas Island, Sandaun Province Papua New Guinea) as a contaminant of machinery and materials. Spread in Papua New Guinea is associated with movement of logging equipment and animal movement. May also be spread by humans for cultivation for forestry or medicinal purposes.

Rate of spread: Rapid, especially in disturbed areas where there is less canopy cover. Sprouts and suckers have been shown to grow more than a metre in the first year. The small seeds are numerous and have been found to dominate the seed bank in lowlands areas of Papua New Guinea.

Economic importance: An increasingly troublesome environmental and agricultural weed of the Pacific Islands. A pest of Kava crops in the Pacific, where it becomes mixed with the harvest and harbours pests of Kava. A serious weed of grazing land and abandoned gardens in Papua New Guinea. It is avoided by livestock. Establishes after forestry operations as an environmental weed. Potential seed contaminant. Used in traditional medicines and agroforestry. P. aduncum extract has potential to be used as an insecticide for control of mosquitoes in dengue vector control programmes. This species is declared noxious in Queensland and the Northern Territory, and prohibited in Western Australia.

NAQS Weeds Target List 55 References:

Hidayatulfathi, O., Sallehudin, S., Ibrahim, J. and Azizol, A.K. 2003, ‘Evaluation of methanol extracts of some Malaysian plants for larvicidal activities’, Tropical Biomedicine 20: 153-157.

ISSG 2005, Piper aduncum, Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=332&fr=1&sts=sss, accessed 7 July, 2006.

Leps, J., Novovotny, V., Cizek, L., Molem, K., Isua, B., Boen, W., Kutil, R., Auga, J., Kasbal, M., Manumbor, M. and Hiuk, S. 2002, ‘Successful invasion of the neotropical species Piper aduncum in rain forests in Papua New Guinea’, Applied Vegetation Science 5: 255-262.

Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy (NAQS) 2003, NAQS Year in Review 2002-03, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Canberra

Orapa, W., Englberger, K. and Lal, S.N. 2004, Chromolaena and other weed problems in the Pacific Islands - ACIAR Technical Reports Series. Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), Canberra.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2007, Piper aduncum, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/piper_aduncum.htm, accessed 1 October 2007.

Rogers, H.M. and Hartemink, A.E. 2000, ‘Soil seed bank and growth rates of an invasive species, Piper aduncum, in the lowlands of Papua New Guinea’, Journal of Tropical Ecology 16: 243-251.

Sulaiman, S., Othman, H.F., Pawanchee, Z.A. and Shaari, N. 2004, ‘Field evaluation of Cynoff 25ULV and Piper aduncum extract against dengue vectors in a housing estate in Kuala Lumpur’, Bulletin of the Mosquito Control Association of Australia 16: 12-17.

NAQS Weeds Target List 56 Digitaria insularis (L.) Mez ex Ekman

Sour grass

Synonyms: Triachne insularis (L.) Nees Andropogon insularis L.

Family: Poaceae

Description: A large, densely tussocked, perennial grass with erect stems branching up to 1.6 metres tall. The stems are enlarged at the base, usually covered with long, stiff hairs. The juvenile leaves have dense, soft hairs. The hairy leaf sheaths are keel-shaped at the apex, which extends beyond the stem nodes. The flat leaf blade is 20-50 centimetres long and 1.5-2 centimetres wide with finely hairy-scaly margins and upper surface. The lower surface is smooth and the mid-rib is depressed. The panicles are 15-30 centimetres long and are silky, slender and dense with slightly drooping branches, 8-11 centimetres long.

Origin: Caribbean (Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenadines), central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama), South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Paraguay, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela).

Distribution: Caribbean, central and South America, Pacific (Fiji, Guam, Hawaii, Marshall Islands, Midway Atoll, Northern Mariana Islands, Ogasawarra Islands, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Wake Island), Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka.

Habitat: Pastures, rangelands and cultivated areas. Readily invades fallow land and degenerate pasture.

Propagation and dispersal: Seed. This plant also produces numerous runners.

Rate of spread: Large volumes of wind-dispersed seed are produced, difficult to control after the first flowering.

Economic importance: This is a weed of soybean, plum, guarana, rubber and passionfruit crops in Brazil, and is also a weed of maize and pineapple crops. This is a serious weed in Hawaii where it is declared noxious, and a principal weed in Venezuela. It is also a principal weed of cotton and maize crops in north-eastern Paraguay, and of pastures and fallow land in Papua New Guinea. It is not eaten by stock and rapidly displaces more palatable species. Some studies have shown that this species has potential for resistance to some herbicides. This species is declared noxious in the Northern Territory.

References:

Chadhokar, P.A. 1976, ‘Control of Digitaria insularis (L.) Mez in tropical pastures’, PANS. 22: 79-85.

NAQS Weeds Target List 57 da Almeida, J.C.V., Chehata, A.N., Fornarolli, D.A., Braz, B.A., Barros, L. and da Costa, F.A. 1987, ‘The control of weeds in Carmesin plums (Prunus salicina) through the use of post- emergence herbicides with residual activity’ Semina (Londrina) 8: 5-8. de Lima, A.A. 1994, ‘Chemical weed control in a rubber nursery’, Pesquisa Agropecuaria Brasileira 29: 853-856.

Gazziero, D.L.P. 1998, ‘Control of weeds in no-tillage cultivation’, JIRCAS Working Report 13: 43-52.

Lurvey, E.L. 1982, ‘Predominant weeds in eastern Paraguay’. Abstracts of the XIV Brazilian congress on herbicides and herbaceous weeds (SBHED) and the VI congress of the Latin American Weed Association (ALAM), Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Digitaria insularis, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/digitaria_insularis.htm, accessed 7 September 2007.

Machado, A.F.L., Ferreira, L.R., Ferreira, F.A., Fialho, C.M.T., Santos, L.D.T. and Machado, M.S. 2006, ‘Growth analysis of Digitaria insularis’, Planta Daninha 24: 641-647.

Procopio, S.O., Pires, F.R., Menezes, C.C.E., Barroso, A.L.L., Moraes, R.V., Silva, M.V.V., Queiroz, R.G. and Carmo, M.L. 2006, ‘Effects of burndown herbicides in weed control in soybean crop’ Planta Daninha 24: 193-197.

Silva Freire, A., Carvalho Pereira, R. and Kersul do Sacramento, C. 1990, ‘Weed control with mixtures of herbicides in guarana plantations’, Agrotropica 2: 43-55.

NAQS Weeds Target List 58 Echinochloa glabrescens Munro ex Hook. f. emend. Kossenko

Barnyard grass

Synonyms: Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) P. Beauv var. formo-sensis Ohwi

Family: Poaceae

Description: Erect annual grass, 50–100 centimetres hight; adopts a closely tufted habit in wetlands, but spreading habit in dry situations. Leaf sheaths tightly stem-clasping; leaf blades strap-like; 10–20 centimetres long by 5–8 millimetres wide with a long thin apex. The inflorescence is a closely branched panicle 10–20 centimetres long with pseudo-spikes 2.5–8 millimetres long, up to 7 millimetres diameter. The spikelets are numerous, 3–3.5 millimetres long, with or without awns, which if present are 1–3 millimetres long. The caryopsis fruit is held tightly within each spikelet, shed as a unit. This is an extreme variant from the Echinochloa crus-galli gene pool distinguished by the hard, glossy lower floret.

Origin: South Asia (Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka).

Distribution: South Asia, tropical Africa, east and south-east Asia (Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam), Pacific (Federated States of Micronesia, Hawaii).

Habitat: Inundated areas; wetlands, especially rice paddies; fallow ground, cropping land.

Propagation and dispersal: Seeds and vegetative fragments probably dispersed by water. A possible contaminant of rice seed.

Economic importance: An important weed of rice and maize in southeast Asia. Notorious weed of rice in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Echinochloa spp. have been found to be resistant to Propanil herbicides. Has some traditional medicinal applications and used for fodder, either green or as silage. This species is declared noxious in the Northern Territory.

References:

Karim, R.S.M., an, A.B. and Sahid, I.B. 2004, ‘Weed problems and their management in rice fields of Malaysia: an overview’, Weed Biology and Management, 4: 177-186.

Naples, M.L. 2005. Weeds of Rain Fed Lowland Rice Fields of Laos and Cambodia. Unpublished MSc thesis, University of Leiden, http://www.nationaalherbarium.nl/Riceweedsweb/www/echin.htm, accessed 10 October 2007.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2007, Echinochloa glabrescens, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/Pier/species/echinochloa_glabrescens.htm, accessed 10 October 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 59 Rao, A.N. and Moody, K. 1990, ‘Weed seed contamination in rice seed’, Seed Science and Technology 18: 139-146.

Wu, Z.Y., Raven P.H. and Hong, D.Y. eds. 2006, Flora of China. Vol. 22 (Poaceae), Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

NAQS Weeds Target List 60 Eragrostis japonica (Thunb.) Trin.

Japanese lovegrass, pond lovegrass

Synonyms: Eragrostis glomerata (Walter) L. H. Dewey Poa glomerata Walter Poa japonica Thunb. (basionym) Diandrochloa namaquensis (Nees ex Schrad.) De Winter

Family: Poaceae

Description: Tufted annuals 10-150 centimetres tall, erect, sometimes bent below, glabrous and somewhat shiny below the nodes. Sheaths are overlapping below, glabrous at the summit and along the upper margins. The leaf blade is 3-30 centimetres long, 1-6 millimetres wide, flat, glabrous below and sometimes lobed near the base. The flower panicle is 4-50 centimetres long, 1.5-6 centimetres wide, condensed, lanceolate and contracted about the secondary branches. The primary panicle branches are ascending and are 3-14 centimetres long. Spikelets are 1.3-3.8 millimetres long, 4-14-flowered, oblong to narrowly lanceolate and laterally compressed, with flower bearing stalks disarticulating between the florets from top downward at maturity. The lowest bracts are subequal, 0.6-1 millimetres long, ovate to ovate-lanceolate in shape, faintly keeled, 1-veined, with apex acute to obtuse. There are two stamens and anthers are 0.1-0.2 millimetres long. The fruit is a caryopses, and are 0.3-0.5 millimetres long, ellipsoid, smooth and reddish-brown in colour.

In Australia, it can be confused with the native Eragrostis tenellula. E. japonica differs by its finely hairy, membranous ligule, contracted smaller panicle with shorter branches, mostly in interrupted clusters or whorls, and in the morphology of its spikelet and caryopsis.

Origin: Africa (Angola, Botswana, Egypt, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Cote D'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia, Zimbabwe), Middle East (Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan), south and east Asia (Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Timor Leste, Vietnam).

Distribution: Africa, Asia, widely naturalised throughout eastern Europe, Caribbean, central and South America and USA.

Habitat: Moist areas along rivers, streams, roadsides and fields, usually in sandy soils below 100 metres.

Propagation and dispersal: Seed.

Economic importance: This species is eaten by cattle when other food is not available. It is considered to be a good fodder for buffaloes in parts of India and Pakistan. A significant weed in Timor Leste. Weed of arable lands and rice fields, it forms dense infestations.

References:

NAQS Weeds Target List 61 Ali, S.I. and Qaiser, M. (eds.) 1982, Flora of Pakistan Vol 143, University of Karachi and Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis.

Clayton, W.D., Harman, K.T. and Williamson, H. 2007, Eragrostis japonica, GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora, http://www.kew.org/data/grasses-db/www/imp03865.htm, accessed 11 October 2007.

Flora of China Editorial Committee (eds.) 2006, Flora of China. Vol. 22 (Poaceae), Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

Lazarides, M. 1997, ‘A Revision of Eragrostis (Eragrostideae, Eleusininae, Poaceae) in Australia’, Australian Systematic Botany 10: 77-187.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Eragrostis japonica, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry. http://www.hear.org/pier/species/eragrostis_japonica.htm, accessed 25 January 2007.

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN), National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?15261, accessed 1 June 2006.

NAQS Weeds Target List 62 Imperata conferta (Presl.) Ohwi

Cogongrass, lalang jawa

Synonyms: Imperata exaltata auct. Saccharum confertum J. Presl

Family: Poaceae

Description: This is a perennial grass with elongated rhizomes and mostly basal leaves. The leaf stems are erect, 100–200 centimetres long, with glabrous, or lightly hairy stem nodes. The leaf-blades are also erect; 20–45 centimetres long; 7–14 millimetres wide and stiff with scaly-hairy margins and an pointed apex. The inflorescence is a contracted lanceolate panicle 25–50 centimetres long; 2–5 centimetres wide, with 6– 12 centimetre long capillary branches tipped by a 0.5–1 centimetre long raceme.

Origin: South-east Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand) Papua New Guinea.

Distribution: South-east Asia, Papua New Guinea, Pacific (Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Guam, New Caledonia, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna), USA.

Habitat: Common from sea level to about 900 metres altitude in Fiji and to about 3000 metres altitude in Papua New Guinea. This species occurs along roadsides, hillsides, streams and trails in dense or open forest, on damp slopes and in mining areas in Florida. Common in Samoa on high-elevation lava flows. Does not tolerate dense shade.

Propagation and dispersal: Seed and vegetatively by rhizomes.

Rate of spread: Unknown, rhizomes allow for spread over short distances, and the spread of this species by seed is questionable and still under investigation.

Economic importance: A weed of coconut plantations in Fiji. This species is very problematic in Florida and has infested hundreds of acres of reclaimed phosphate mining areas. While introductions of this species have been made with the intent to use it as a pasture grass, only very young shoots may be grazed, and supplementary feeding is necessary. Reports of invasion into dense old-growth forests in Florida have indicated that a more shade-tolerant ecotype has developed.

References:

Clayton, W.D., Harman, K.T. and Williamson, H. (2007). Imperata conferta, GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora, http://www.kew.org/data/grasses-db/www/imp05584.htm, 13 September 2007.

MacDonald, G.E., Brecke, B.J., Gaffey, J.F., Langeland, K.A., Ferrell, J.A. and Sellers, B.A. 2006, Cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica (L.) Beav.) Biology, Ecology and Management in Florida. University of Florida IFAS extension document, http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/WG202, accessed 13 September, 2007.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Imperata conferta, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/imperata_conferta.htm, accessed 13 September 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 63 USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) . National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?447374, accessed 13 September 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 64 Leptochloa chinensis (L.) Nees

Asian sprangletop, Chinese sprangletop, red sprangletop

Synonyms: Poa chinensis L. (basionym)

Family: Poaceae

Description: Tufted, erect annual or perennial grass, 10–120 centimetres tall, with fibrous roots. Stems hollow, glabrous, commonly reclining at base and rooting at nodes. Leaf sheaths loose, 4–10 centimetres long, with a membranous ligule 1.25–2 millimetres long and split into hairlike segments; leaf blades linear, acute, flat, 6–30 centimetres by 4–9 millimetres, roughish. The inflorescence is a teminal panicle of many slender braches arising from a narrow main axis, 20–60 centimetres long; racemes solitary or in groups of 2–4, 1–10 centimetres long, shortly pedunculate. Spikelets 2.5–3.5 millimetres long, usually 5-flowered, on alternating sides of the flower stalk. The fruit is an ellipsoidal caryopsis, 0.8 millimetres long, brown, smooth or wrinkled.

The closely related L. panicea can be distinguished from the above as it has scattered, long, fine tubercule-based hairs, and fewer florets (2–4) per spikelet.

Origin: Africa (Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, South Africa, Swaziland), south and east Asia (Cambodia, China, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam), Papua New Guinea.

Distribution: Africa, Asia, Papua New Guinea.

Habitat: Heavy or light soils in soggy or inundated areas. It is able to establish and grow profusely in waterlogged conditions before crops can take a hold. 0–900 metres altitude.

Propagation and dispersal: Seed dispersed by water and animals.

Economic importance: A serious weed in Indonesia, Philippines, Swaziland, Thailand; and a principal weed in India, Japan and Malaysia. A weed of rice, sugarcane, vegetables, cotton, corn. Notorious weed of rice in Malaysia and an important weed of rice in China, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. Found to be one of the prominent species in rice granaries in Malaysia. In 2002, strains of L. chinensis evolved resistance to some herbicides in Thailand. A contaminant of rice seed but can be separated easily as the seed is much smaller than rice. This species is declared noxious in the Northern Territory.

References:

Azmi, M., Baki, B.B. and Mashor, M. 1992, ‘Weed communities in rice granary areas in Peninsular Malaysia’, Proceedings of the 1st International Weed Control Congress 2: 57-60.

Hsu, C.C., Kuoh, C.S. & Liu, H.Y., Gramineae (Poaceae) in Huang, T.C., Boufford, D.E., Hsieh, C.F., Kuoh, C.S., Ohashi, H. & Su, H.J. (eds.) 2000, Flora of Taiwan Vol 5, Editorial Committee, Department of Botany, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.

NAQS Weeds Target List 65 Karim, R.S.M., Man, A.B. and Sahid, I.B. 2004, ‘Weed problems and their management in rice fields of Malaysia: an overview’, Weed Biology and Management 4: 177-186.

Maneechote, C. 2005, ‘Group A/1 resistant sprangletop (Leptochloa chinensis) Thailand’, The International Survey of Herbicide Resistant Weeds, Herbicide Resistance Action Committee and the Weed Science Society of America, http://www.weedscience.org/Case/Case.asp?ResistID=5199, accessed 10 July 2006.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2007, Leptochloa chinensis, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/Pier/species/leptochloa_chinensis.htm, accessed 27 January 2007.

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) . National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?21778, accessed 11 October 2007.

Waterhouse, B.M. and Mitchell, A.A. (1998) Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy Weeds Target List. Ed. A.S. George. (AQIS Miscellaneous Publication no. 6/9: Canberra).

NAQS Weeds Target List 66 Sacciolepis interrupta (Willd.)

Synonyms: Panicum interruptum Willd. (basionym)

Family: Poaceae

Description: An erect, perennial grass 50–100 centimetres tall, growing in shallow swamps or creeping and floating in deep water. The stems are hollow, with spongy-swollen purplish rhizomes. The leaf sheaths are swollen, 5–6 centimetres long; hairless, striped and yellow or purple; the ligule is 1.5–3 millimetres long, finely hairy behind; leaf blade flat, linear, 13–40 centimetres by 7–20 millimetres, blue-green and glabrous. The Inflorescence is an erect, slender pseudo-spike, 10–40 centimetres long, with short branches. Spikelets 1-flowered, 3–4 millimetres long, two or more together on pedicels 1–4 millimetres long. Old spikelets falling early giving an interrupted appearance. The fruit is an elliptic caryopsis, compressed, 2 millimetres long.

Can be confused with Hymenachne acutigluma from which it can be distinguished by its hollow stem, short inflorescence and long upper glume. The two species often occur together.

Origin: South and south-east Asia (Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam) and possibly tropical Africa.

Distribution: Tropical Asia and Africa.

Habitat: Swamps and stagnant water, occurring in dense swards. A weed of drainage channels and dams.

Propagation and dispersal: Seed and rhizome fragments dispersed by water.

Economic importance: A principal weed in Nigeria. Common in Indonesia. Weed of rice, irrigation channels and wetlands. A potentially ‘desirable’ ponded pasture grass; authorities should be wary of attempts to introduce this species deliberately. This species is declared noxious in the Northern Territory, and prohibited in Western Australia.

References:

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2004, Sacciolepis interrupta, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/Pier/species/sacciolepis_interrupta.htm, accessed 11 July 2006.

Renu, S., Thomas, C.G. and Abraham, C.T. 2000, ‘Stale seedbed technique for the management of Sacciolepis interrupta in semi-dry rice’, Indian Journal of Weed Science 32: 140-145.

Screedevi, P. and Thomas, C.G. 1993, ‘Control of Sacciolepis interrupta (Wild) Stapf in dry seeded rice in Kerala’, Integrated weed management for sustainable agriculture. Proceedings of an Indian Society of Weed Science International Symposium, Hisar, India, 18-20 November 1993.

NAQS Weeds Target List 67 USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) . National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?32633, accessed 1 June 2006.

NAQS Weeds Target List 68 Paederia foetida L.

Skunk vine

Synonyms: Paederia scadens (Lour.) Merr.

Family: Rubiaceae

Description: A perennial climbing vine to four metres tall with small stems that are woody at the base. Suckers develop from rhizomes. The stems and foliage are foul-smelling when bruised. The leaves are opposite, pubescent, heart-shaped with an acute apex and are 3-15 centimetres long and 2-6 centimetres wide. The leaf stalks are 1-6 centimetres long and the conspicuous stipules are triangular. The flower inflorescences are axillary and terminal, in lax panicles 5-15 centimetres long, often with reduced leaves. The flower calyx is 1-2 millimetres long with 5 deltate lobes. The corolla is campanulate with flared lobes and is cream with a purple throat. The tube is 8-10 millimetres long and purple-hairy within. The fruit is a spherical, slightly prickly berry, 4-9 millimetres in diameter. The fruit is orange-yellow to brown becoming black in colour, shiny and contains two seeds.

Origin: South and east Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam), Papua New Guinea.

Distribution: South and east Asia, Papua New Guinea, tropical Africa, central America, northern South America, Hawaii, Mauritius, New Caledonia, USA, Christmas Island.

Habitat: The vines can grow high into the trees in a variety of habitats, though frequently occur in secondary forests, waste places and cultivated land at low altitudes. It can also grow under water.

Propagation and dispersal: Seed probably dispersed by birds and animals. Vegetative propagation from rhizomes.

Economic importance: A serious weed in Nigeria and a principal weed in Mauritius, it is also a serious weed of young sugarcane. The vines climb on desirable shrubs and tress, weighing them down and impeding regeneration below the dense shade. The vine invades pastures and causes problems along highways and on power lines. Contains alkaloids and is used in traditional medicine. It is difficult to kill with chemicals due to its rhizomes. This species is declared noxious in the Northern Territory.

References:

Huang, T-C. (Editor-in-chief) 1998, Flora of Taiwan Vol 4, Department of Botany, National Taiwan University. Taipai, Taiwan.

NBII 2006, Paederia foetida, National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) and Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp? si=632&fr=1&sts=, accessed 12 October 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 69 Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Paederia foetida, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/paederia_foetida.htm, accessed 2 January 2007.

Pemberton, R.W. and Pratt, P.D. Skunk Vine in Van Driesche, R., Lyon, S., Blossey, B., Hoddle, M. and Reardon, R. 2002, Biological Control of Invasive Plants in the Eastern United States, USDA Forest Service Publication.

Starr, F., Starr, K. and Loope, L. 2003, Plants of Hawai’i: Paederia feotida, United States Geological Survey – Biological Resources Division, http://www.hear.org/starr/hiplants/reports/html/paederia_feotida.htm, accessed 2 January 2006.

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN), National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?26300, accessed 2 January 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 70 Salvinia cucullata Roxb. Ex Bory

Chok huu nuu

Synonyms:

Family: Salviniaceae

Description: A floating fern with hairy stems. The uppermost (floating) leaves entire at apex, up to 1.2 centimetres long, broader than long, with margins curving upwards and inwards. Upper leaf surfaces with papillae (small projections) in irregularly curved rows, the tips not joined. Sporocarps (fruiting bodies) form on the submerged, root- like lower leaves.

Very similar in appearance to S. molesta, which has leaves longer than broad with deeply indented leaf apices; the papillae hairs are joined at their tips to form a cage- like structure.

Origin: Unknown.

Distribution: South-east Asia (Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam). One specimen has been collected from the Pilbara region of Western Australia, though the identification of this is doubtful.

Habitat: Slow-moving freshwater bodies, rice fields, shallow pools.

Propagation and dispersal: Vegetative fragments and spores spread by water. Transported to water bodies by human activities as well as possibly water birds.

Rate of spread: Rapidly downstream.

Economic importance: A principal weed of Indonesia and Thailand. A weed of rice and open waters. Harbours the Mansonia mosquito in Sri Lanka. This species is declared noxious in the Northern Territory. Salvinia spp. are declared noxious in Queensland, and prohibited in Western Australia.

References: Misra, G. and Tripathy, G. 1975, ‘Studies on the control of aquatic weeds of Orissa. 2. Effect of chemical herbicides on some aquatic weeds’, Journal of the Indian Botanical Society 54: 65-71.

Nguyen-van-Vuong 1976, ‘Salvina spp. in Java’, Weed in Indonesia 5: 49-51.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, salvinia culcutta, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/salvinia_cucullata.htm, accessed 2 January 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 71 NAQS Weeds Target List 72 Limnophila sessiliflora (Vahl) Blume

Ambulia, Asian marshweed, shi long wei

Synonyms: Hottonia sessiliflora (Vahl) Terebinthina sessiliflora (Vahl) Kuntze

Family: Scrophulariaceae

Description: An aquatic perennial herb. The submerged stems are branched, subglabrous to glabrous and green to reddish in colour. The emerged stems are 2-3 millimetres in diameter, 6-40 centimetres long, branched, glabrous (rarely subglabrous) and green to pink in colour. Submerged leaves 6-10(or more) whorled, ovate to broadly lanceolate, 5-40 millimetres long, 0.8-1.0 millimetres wide, segments opposite, flattened and apex is rounded to obtuse. Emerged leaves 5-8-whorled, elliptic to lanceolate in shape, 10-20 millimetres long, segments obtuse to rounded at apex and dark green in colour. Flowers are sessile, axillary and solitary, with bracteoles rarely present. The flower corolla is 6-10 millimetres and purple to blue in colour. The fruit are compressed ellipsoid capsules, 3.5-5.5 millimetres long, containing up to 150 seeds and are pale green-brown when submerged and dark brown when emerged.

Origin: South and east Asia (Bhutan, China, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Vietnam).

Distribution: South and east Asia, USA.

Habitat: Can grow in water up to three meters deep and tolerates low temperatures. Ponds, swamps, rice fields, wet places along streams; below 1900 metres.

Propagation and dispersal: By seed or fragmentation of the stem, with only a small portion of the stem necessary for growth to occur. In late autumn the mats break loose from the hydrosoil and since the fruit is mature in the late autumn the floating mats spread the seeds as they move.

Economic importance: A major weed problem in paddy rice fields of India, China, Japan and the Philippines. The species is able to shade out, and thus, out-compete totally submersed species. It also clogs irrigation and flood-control canals, and pumping and power stations. A toxin present in the stem tissue may prevent herbivorous fish from eating the plant.

References:

Flora of China Editorial Committee, eds. 1998, Flora of China. Vol. 18 (Scrophulariaceae through Gesneriaceae), Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

NBII 2006, Limnophila sessiliflora, National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) and Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp? si=602&fr=1&sts=, accessed 12 October 2007.

Hall, D.W., Vandiver, V.V. Jr. and Gray, C.J. 2006, Weeds in Florida, University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS), Gainsville.

NAQS Weeds Target List 73 Huang, T-C. (Editor-in-chief) 2003, Flora of Taiwan Vol 6, Department of Botany, National Taiwan University, Taipai, Taiwan.

Naples, M.L. 2005, Weeds of Rain Fed Lowland Rice Fields of Laos & Cambodia, Unpublished MSc thesis, University of Leiden.

Ramey, V. 2001, Limnophila sessiliflora – Non-Native Invasive Aquatic Plants in the United States, Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, University of Florida and Sea Grant, http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/seagrant/limses2.html, accessed 12 February 2007].

Yang, Y. and Yen, S. 1997, ‘Notes on Limnophila (Scrophulariaceae) of Taiwan’, Botanical Bulletin Academia Sinica 38: 285-295.

NAQS Weeds Target List 74 Striga asiatica (L.) Kuntze

Asiatic witchweed, red witchweed

Synonyms: Striga lutea Lour. Striga hirsuta Benth. Buchnera asiatica L.

Description: An erect, branched annual herb that grows to 15-30 centimetres tall, it is a root parasite on a wide range of hosts, with shallow roots connected to host by haustoria. Stems are terete below ground and square and bristly above. Leaves are green, sessile, narrowly lanceolate to linear, 10-40 millimetres long and 1-4 millimetres wide, scabrid-hairy. The lower leaves are opposite with upper leaves becoming scattered. The flower inflorescence is an erect, terminal spike that is 10-15 centimetres long. Flowers are small (less than 150 millimetres in diameter), stalk short or absent, axillary, subtended by scaly-hairy, linear bracts. The flower corolla is two-lipped and up to 11 millimetres long, with tube recurved and narrowing upwards, shortly hairy. Flower colour varies regionally from red, orange and yellow in Africa to white, pink, yellow or purple in Asia. The capsule fruit are black, ellipsoidal, 2-valved, with a major axis 4 millimetres and minor axis 2 millimetres. Pods contain thousands of microscopic seeds, 0.2-0.3 millimetres long, that are ribbed and brown.

Origin: South and south-east Asia (Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) and possibly Africa (Botswana, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe).

Distribution: South and south-east Asia, Africa, USA.

Habitat: Grassland and cultivated crops on wide range of soil types, especially light soils and/or low nitrogen fertility. It does not grow in wet conditions.

Propagation and dispersal: Immense numbers of tiny dust-like seeds dispersed by wind, water, soil movement, human activities, and by clinging to the feet, fur or feathers of animals.

Rate of spread: Unknown. A minimum of approximately 60 days is required from seed germination to seed production.

Economic importance: A serious weed in India, South Africa, USA. A principal weed in Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Pakistan and Zambia. Infests a wide range of grass crops (maize, millet, rice, sorghum, sugarcane) and some broadleaf crops (e.g. sunflower, tomatoes, some legumes). The parasitic weed robs nutrients and moisture from crops by tapping directly into the host’s root system. Heavy infestation can cause complete crop loss. There has been success in controlling and eradicating the weed from 99% of infested land in North and South Carolina, USA. This species is declared noxious in the Northern Territory. Striga spp. are declared noxious weeds in New South Wales, Western Australia, Tasmania, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

References:

NAQS Weeds Target List 75 Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 2003, Witchweed: A Parasitic Pest, United States Department of Agriculture, http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/pubs/fsheet_faq_notice/fs_phwitchweed.html, accessed 2 January 2007.

Encycloweedia 2005, Striga genus: Witchweed, Integrated Pest Control, California Department of Food and Agriculture, http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps/ipc/weedinfo/striga.htm, accessed 2 January 2007.

NBII 2006, Striga asiatica, National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) and Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp? si=968&fr=1&sts=, accessed 12 October 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 76 NAQS Genera Weed List Profiles

Alternanthera This genus is known for its invasiveness. One of its member species, Alternanthera philoxeroides (alligator weed), is a Weed of National Significance (WONS) and declared noxious in all Australian States. It also includes a number of other species which display several weedy characteristics. Alternanthera pungens is a declared noxious weed in the Northern Territory, South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria, and is prohibited in Western Australia.

There are about 200 species in this genus, largely native to the tropics and subtropics of North and South America, but widely naturalised elsewhere. Several of these species have spread to become pantropical weeds.

Family: Amaranthaceae

Description: Annual or perennial herbs with prostrate, ascending, erect or floating stems. The leaves are opposite with a lanceolate to ovate blades and entire margins. Inflorescences are axillary or terminal and sessile or pedunculate heads. The flowers are bisexual and solitary in the axil of a bract. There are five tepals that are often unequal and membranous, and 2-5 stamens with filaments that unite into a tube or a cup at the base. There are 5 pseudostaminodes that alternate with stamens and are entire and dentate to fringed. The ovary is globose with a single pendulous ovule. Fruit is an indehiscent and compressed utricle (dry seed case enclosing a single seed), globose or ovoid in shape. Seeds are reddish brown in colour and biconvex.

Origin: Many of the species have their origins in the tropics and subtropics of North and South America.

Distribution: Widely distributed across many continents.

Habitat: Both aquatic and terrestrial.

Economic importance: Alternanthera philoxeroides has caused considerable economic damage where it has invaded aquatic habitats. Floating stems grow across the water surface forming a dense interwoven mat, clogging the waterway and out-competing native plants along the shore. There is disruption to the aquatic environment through the impediment of light penetration and gaseous exchange, with adverse affects on flora and fauna. Control of this weed is expensive and complicated.

NAQS Weeds Target List 77 Alternanthera caracasana Kunth

Mat chaff flower; washerwoman

Synonyms: Alternanthera peploides (Willd. ex Roem. & Schult.) Urb.

Family: Amaranthaceae; also placed in Chenopodiaceae

Description: Perennial herb, with prostrate stems, sometimes rooting at the nodes and 10-50 centimetres long, moderately to densely hairy. The leaves are oblanceolate to obovate or suborbicular, generally 1.5-2 centimetres long, 0.5-1.2 centimetres wide and sparsely hairy. The leaf stalks are 0.3-1.5 centimetres long and moderately hairy. The flowers are in stalkless, densely hairy spikes. Bracts are 3-4 millimetres long, tipped with a spine 0.5-0.7 millimetres long. Bracteoles are 3 millimetres long and acuminate. The bracts and bracteoles are densely hairy. Sepals are unequal; the two lower ones are 3.5-4.2 millimetres long, spine-tipped and the spine is less than 1 millimetres long. Other sepals are spineless, the upper one about 3 millimetres long, the two inner ones 2-2.5 millimetres long. All sepals are finely hairy; the upper one only at the base. There are five stamens, which are all fertile. The utricle fruit are 1-1.5 millimetres long and enclosed by the sepals.

Origin: Caribbean, central America (including Mexico), South America (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela).

Distribution: Caribbean, central America, South America, southern U.S., Spain, Macaronesia, Africa, Pacific (Galapagos Islands, Hawaii, New Caledonia).

Habitat: Grows on drier soils of waste places, roadsides, vacant lots, and fields, to 150 metres altitude.

References:

Clemants, S.E. 2003, Alternanthera in: Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+, Flora of North America North of Mexico, 12+ vols, New York and Oxford, Vol. 4, pp. 447.

NBII and ISSG, 2006, Alternanthera philoxeroides, National Biological Information Infrastructure and Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), http://www.invasivespecies.net/database/species/ecology.asp?si=763&fr=1&sts=sss accessed 26 October 2007.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Alternanthera caracasana, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/alternanthera_caracasana.htm, accessed 9 October 2007.

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN). National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?407542, accessed 9 October 2007.

Wu, Z. Y., P. H. Raven & D. Y. Hong, eds. 2003, Flora of China. Vol. 5 (Ulmaceae through Basellaceae), Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

NAQS Weeds Target List 78 NAQS Weeds Target List 79 Bidens There are about 250 species within this genus, a number of which are known weeds. Bidens pilosa and B. bipinnata are both weeds in Australia, while B. biternata (see Primary Weed List) is a weed in Asia and B. alba and B. cynapiifolia are both listed as weeds in the Pacific.

Family: Asteraceae

Description: Species in this genus are annual or perennial herbs and vines, but rarely shrubs. The stems are erect and leaves are usually opposite, whorled, compound, lobed, or simple leaves. The flower heads are solitary, in corymbs or panicles, and are radiate or disc-shaped. The outer florets are strap-shaped, neuter or carrying female parts and are usually yellow, while central florets are perfect or rarely carrying male parts, 4-5-lobed and yellow or brownish orange. The fruit are linear-oblong to ellipsoid achenes, 3- or 4-angled or compressed and sometimes winged.

Distribution: Widespread, especially in subtropical, tropical, and warm-temperate North America and South America.

Propagation and dispersal: Seed, which can be dispersed by wind, water and attaching to clothing or animal's fur or feathers.

Economic importance: Several species are weeds in Australia, Asia and the Pacific.

References:

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Bidens alba, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/bidens_alba.htm, accessed 9 October 2007.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Bidens bipinnata, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/bidens_bipinnata.htm, accessed 9 October 2007.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Bidens cynapiifolia, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/bidens_cynapiifolia.htm, accessed 9 October 2007.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Bidens pilosa, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/bidens_pilosa.htm, accessed 9 October 2007.

Strother, J.L. and Weedon, R.R. 2006, Bidens in Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+, Flora of North America North of Mexico 12+ vols New York and Oxford. Vol. 21 p 205.

NAQS Weeds Target List 80 Blumea There are about 80 species of Blumea, of which, about 17 species have been identified in Australia. Many species of this genus are weeds overseas including B. balsamifera, B. laciniata, B. lanceolara, B. sessiliflora, B. sinuata and B. vicosa.

Family: Asteraceae

Description: Species in this genus are annual or perennial herbs with simple or branched stems, glabrate or variously hairy. The leaves are alternate, with a short stalk, or stalk absent, mucronate-toothed to fringed or sometimes pinnately lobed. The flower heads carry male and female flowers, and disc-shaped, solitary or paniculate. The outer florets carry only female parts, are slender, finely hairy, minutely 2- or 3-toothed. The central florets are bisexual and the flower corollas are often yellow, rarely white to purplish, tubular and 5-toothed. The fruit is a cylindrical, finely hairy, or obscurely 4-angular or 5- or 10-ribbed achene. The fruit has aset of tufted hairs forming a pappus of numerous slender bristles in 1 series, white to reddish.

Distribution: Located throughout tropical Africa, Asia and Australia.

Blumea laciniata (Roxb.) D.C.

Cutleaf false oxtongue

Synonyms: Blumea okinawensis Hayata Conyza laciniata Roxb.

Family: Asteraceae

Description: An annual herb, 0.5-1.5 metres tall from a taproot. The stems are erect to ascending, often branched from the base, finely hairy with stipitate glands. Leaves are membraneous, 12-20 centimetres long, 6-8 centimetres wide, with an obtuse apex, attenuate base, margins often notched-divided and distantly dentate, teeth with pointed tips, veins 8-10 pairs, finely hairy on both surfaces. The flower heads are in large, terminal, open panicles. The involucral bracts are in 2 or 3 series, often purple-tinged, 1-8 millimetres long and finely hairy. The central florets are yellow, 7-8 millimetres long, with 5 broadly triangular lobes. The achene fruit is oblong, brown and sparsely hairy.

Origin: Asia (Cambodia, China, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam), Pacific (Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, New Caledonia, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau), Papua New Guinea.

Distribution: Asia, Pacific, Hawaii, French Polynesia.

Habitat: Wastelands, 300 to 1500 metres.

Economic importance: An invasive weed in Hawaii and French Polynesia. Used as a medicinal herb in parts

NAQS Weeds Target List 81 of Asia, it has been found to contain antiviral properties.

References:

Li, Y., Ooi, L.S.M., Wang, H., But, P.P.H. and Ooi, V.E.C. 2004, ‘Antiviral activities of medicinal herbs traditionally used in southern mainland China’, Phytotherapy Research 18: 718-722.

Oudhia, P. 1999, ‘A Useful Weed Blumea lacera L.’, Indian Journal of Weed Science 31: 108-109.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Blumea laciniata, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/blumea_laciniata.htm, accessed 16 October 2007.

Press, J.R., Shrestha, K.K. and Sutton, D.A. 2000, Annotated Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Nepal, The Natural History Museum, London.

NAQS Weeds Target List 82 Eupatorium

Eupatorium Eupatorium spp. are taxonomically complicated. A recent phylogenetic DNA analysis confirmed the narrowing of this genus to around 42 herbaceous or shrub species from North America, Europe and Asia. Distinct, sexual diploid species may include populations of polyploid plants that do not differ greatly from the haploids. There are a number of weeds in this genus; a declared noxious weed in the US and a native of Mexico, sticky eupatorium (Eupatorium adenophorum) has undergone a name change and is now Ageratina adenophora, a declared noxious weed in New South Wales and prohibited in Western Australia. Austroeupatorium inulaefolium (see Primary Weed List), declared noxious in the Northern Territory; is also a historical representative of Eupatorium spp., as are Chromolaena odorata and Mikania micrantha (see Primary Weed List for these species, also declared noxious in some Australian States or Territories). In Australia, Eupatorium serotinum (seroty weed) has been successfully eradicated from Queensland, with no new recordings of the plant since 1980.

Family: Asteraceae

Description: This genus is comprised of herbaceous perennial and shrub species, ranging from 30-200 centimetres in height. They are primarily tropical herbs with erect stems, usually not branched. The leaves mostly arise from a central stem, usually opposite and may or may not have short leaf stalks. The leaf blades are usually 3-nerved, or pinnately nerved, mostly deltate or ovate to lanceolate or linear. The flower heads are disc-shaped, in corymb or panicle inflorescences. The flower corollas are usually white, rarely pinkish with funnelform to campanulate throats and 5 lobes, triangular in shape. The styles sometimes have enlarged bases, are usually hairy (glabrous in E. capillifolium) and branches are mostly thread-like. The cypselae seeds are brownish to black, prismatic, 5-ribbed, usually glabrous and usually dotted with glands. Short tufted hairs (pappi) are persistent, of 20–50 whitish barbellulate bristles, borne singly.

Distribution: Eastern North America, eastern Asia.

Habitat: Abandoned cultivated fields, wastelands and roadsides, moist, protected areas. Eupatorium are cultivated in gardens in North America.

Propagation and dispersal: By windborne seed and rhizomes.

Rate of spread: Mature Eupatorium serotinum seeds prolifically, with young plants producing wind dispersed seeds about 12 months after germination.

Economic importance: A number of Eupatorium species are toxic to grazing animals.

References:

NAQS Weeds Target List 83 Siripun, K.C. and Schilling, E.E. 2006 Eupatorium, in Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+, Flora of North America North of Mexico 12+ vols New York and Oxford. Vol. 21. p 392.

Tomley, A.J. and Panetta, F.D. 2002, ‘Eradication of the exotic weeds Helenium amarum (rafin) H.L. and Eupatorium serotinum MICHX from south-eastern Queensland’, Proceedings 13th Australian Weeds Conference, 293-296.

Yadav, A.S. and Tripathi, R.S. 1981, Population dynamics of the ruderal weed Eupatorium and its natural regulation, Oikos, 36: 355-361.

NAQS Weeds Target List 84 Mikania The Mikania genus is composed of about 450 species, most of which are genus are stem twiners and lianas. Many of the species in this genus have been ranked as some of the world’s worst weeds, including Mikania cordata and Mikania micrantha (see Primary Weed List), as they grow quickly and crowd out other plants. The four most problematic species (aforementioned species as well as M. congesta and M. scandens; listed as weeds in 35 countries) in this genus are not likely to naturalise beyond tropical, coastal areas that receive an annual rainfall of at least 1500 millimeters. Mikania spp. are declared noxious weeds in Queensland and prohibited in Western Australia. Mikania cordata and M. micrantha are declared in the Northern Territory.

Family: Asteraceae

Description: Vines or shrubs (sometimes perennial herbs) with stems usually twining to scrambling and branched. Leaves are cauline, opposite and petiolate. The blades are palmately, 3-7 nerved. Species from this genus are characterised by their capitula, which is composed of four florets and an involucre composed of four phyllaries that is subtended by a subinvolucral bract.

Distribution: Tropical regions globally, temperate North and South America, and southern Africa. The majority of species are native to central and South America, with two major diversity centres in the highlands of south-eastern Brazil and the eastern foothills of the Andes from Bolivia to Colombia.

Habitat: Forest clearings, along roadsides, in plantation crops and riparian habitats in tropical regions.

Propagation and dispersal: Both M. cordata and M. micrantha are dispersed by wind-blown seed and stem fragments. Seed can also be dispersed by adhering to human clothing or the hair of animals.

Rate of spread: Species from this genus typically grow very quickly.

Economic importance: The species M. laevigata and M. glomerata, also known as guaco, are popular in herbal medicine. M. cordata and M. micrantha are serious agricultural and environmental weeds in Asia and the Pacific.

References:

Holmes, W.C., ‘A review preparatory to an infrageneric classification of Mikania (Tribe: Eupatorieae)’ in Hind, D.J.N. and Pope, G.V. 1995, Advances in Compositae Systematics, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England.

Holmes, W.C. 2006, Mikania in: Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+, Flora of North America North of Mexico 12+ vols New York and Oxford. Vol. 21 p 545.

King, R.M. and Robinson, H. (1987). The genera of the Eupatorieae (Asteraceae). In: Monographs in SystematicBotany. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis.

NAQS Weeds Target List 85 QNRM 2005, Mikania vine, Queensland Government Department of Natural Resources and Mines, http://www.nrw.qld.gov.au/pests/weeds/declared_plants/pdf/mikania_vine_warn.pdf, accessed 17 October 2007. Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2007, Mikania cordata, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/mikania_cordata.htm, accessed 17 October 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 86 Cyperus

Umbrella sedge, flat sedge This is a large genus of over 600 annual and perennial sedges, widespread throughout all but the coldest parts of the world. Some are serious weeds of crops and environmental areas. They are becoming popular both as garden plants and as potential biofuel crops.

Nutgrass (Cyperus rotundus) is a declared noxious weed in South Australia, and is unassigned in Western Australia and Tasmania, awaiting assessment. Cyperus esculentus is declared noxious in New South Wales, prohibited in Western Australia and nominated for declaration in Tasmania. Cyperus teneristolon is on the alert list for environmental weeds.

All Cyperus plants found in the NAQS region that are not native to Australia should be reported. Cyperis virens is listed on the NAQS appendix species list; the profile for this species is presented below.

Family: Cyperaceae

Description: Forming a clump of basal foliage, Cyperus species have strongly upright, grassy, 3-angled stems. Usually flowering from summer to autumn, these plants mostly produce umbels of flowerheads on thickened stalks, up to 1.5 metre high, or more. The tiny flowers are green to brown, often with prominent, leafy bracts that may radiate like the spokes of an umbrella.

Distribution: Globally, throughout tropical and temperate regions

Habitat: In or around streams, lakes and boggy areas.

Propagation and dispersal: By stolons, rhizomes and seed.

Economic importance: There has been emerging interest in some of the larger Cyperus species for use as biofuels and more generally as architectural garden plants.

Cyperus virens Michaux

Green flat sedge

Synonyms: Cyperus surinamensis Cyperus dentatus

Family: Cyperaceae

Description: This species is a perennial, tufted sedge, with rhizomes 0.5–2 centimetres when present. The stems are triangular in cross section, 20–100 centimetres long and 2.4–6.9 millimetres wide, rough on the angles. The leaves are 20–50 centimetres long and 3–14 millimetres wide, in groups of 4–12 and are flat to V-shaped, with readily visible cross ribs. The inflorescences are digitate to hemispheric heads, 1–3.5 centimetres in diameter. The floral scales are pale grayish brown, or greenish, oblanceolate. The flowers have 1–2 stamens and the anthers are 0.8–1.4 millimetres long; styles 0.8–1 millimetres; stigmas 0.6– 0.8 millimetres. The fruit is a brown ellipsoid achene, 1.2–1.5 millimetres long

NAQS Weeds Target List 87 and 0.3–0.4 millimetres wide.

Origin: North America (USA), Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua), South America (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela) Caribbean (Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Martinique Puerto Rico and St. Lucia).

Distribution: North, central and South America, Caribbean, naturalised elsewhere.

Habitat: Wet pastures, marshes, roadside ditches.

Propagation and dispersal: By waterborne seed and rhizomes. Note: this species may be present in Australia under the synonym C. surinamensis.

References:

Ball, P.W., Reznicek, A.A and Murray, D.F. Cyperus, in Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+, Flora of North America North of Mexico 12+ vols New York and Oxford. Vol. 23, 1993.

CRC for Australian Weed Management 2003, Weed Management Guide – Cyperus – Cyperus teneristolon, CRC for Australian Weed Management and the Commonwealth Department of the Environment and Heritage, http://www.weeds.gov.au/publications/guidelines/alert/pubs/c- teneristolon.pdf, accessed 13 November 2007.

Gardening Australia 2007, Plant Profile: Cyperus, http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s1866571.htm accessed 13 November 2007.

Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), 2006, Global Invasive Species Database, http://www.invasivespecies.net/database/species/ecology.asp?si=763&fr=1&sts=sss accessed 26 October 2007.

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN). National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?446808, accessed 13 November 2007.

University of Florida 2005, Aquatic, Wetland and Invasive Plant Particulars and Photographs University of Florida Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, Cyperus virens, http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/cypvir.html, accessed 13 November 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 88 Equisetum

Horsetail, scouring brush Species from the Equisetum genus are among the world’s worst weeds. There are about 30 species within the genus, with 12 considered to be weeds. Equisetum spp. are declared noxious weeds in all Australian States and Territories. Of particular concern are Equisetum ramosissimum (see Primary Weed List, declared noxious in the Northern Territory), E. arvense (a declared noxious weed in all Australian Sates other than the Northern Territory) and E. hyemale. The genus is on the Australian Government Alert List for Environmental Weeds, while the importation of E. arvense, E. palustre and E. ramosissimum is not permitted into Australia. Infestations of E. arvense and E. hyemale have occurred in Australia due to escapees from nurseries and gardens.

Family: Equisetaceae

Description: Perennial plants with extensive rhizomes, they have aerial stems that grow to heights in the range of 5-120 centimetres. The stems are hollow, segmented and finely grooved; sometimes with solid side-branches arranged in whorls arising from the joints between segments. Fertile and sterile stems are produced, which can sometimes differ in appearance with sterile shoots green and branched, and fertile shoots pale brown, unbranched and bearing cones. Leaves are joined at the margins to form a toothed sheath that encircles the stem at each node. Fruiting cones are found at the end of fertile stems and contain green to yellowish dust-like spores.

Distribution: The genus is almost cosmopolitan in distribution, with only Australia and New Zealand lacking native species, though predominantly located in the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.

Habitat: Occurs in moist places such as riverbanks, lakeshores, roadsides, ditches, seepage areas, meadows, marshes, and wet woodlands. They grow on many types of soil and can tolerate low nutrient levels. Temperate regions are most susceptible.

Propagation and dispersal: Species spread mainly from rhizome fragments and via the root system. The spores require prolonged moist conditions for germination and development, and young sporophytes rarely survive.

Economic importance: They are among the world’s worst agricultural weeds due to their resilience, toxicity and propensity to dominate poorly drained farmland and pastures. They are resistant to a wide range of herbicides and are very difficult to control because of their extensive, inaccessible, underground parts. In high densities, Equisetum spp. reduce crop yields by producing inhibitory substances that depress the growth of neighbouring plants. All species are thought to contain alkaloids toxic to horses, cattle and sheep, and livestock can die within a few hours of eating large amounts of the plants. Species from the genus are often grown in gardens and some species are thought to have medicinal uses. Equisetum ramoissimum is a declared noxious weed in the Northern Territory, where Equisetum arvense is not declared, but is declared in all other states. Equisetum spp are declared in all Australian States.

Csurches, S. and Edwards, R. (1998). Potential Environmental Weeds in Australia, Candidate Species for Preventative Control. National Weeds Program, Queensland Department of Natural Resources.

DEH and Weed CRC, 2003, Horsetails (Equisetum species) weed management guide, Department of the Environment and Heritage and the CRC for Australian Weed Management, http://www.weeds.gov.au/publications/guidelines/alert/pubs/equisetum.pdf, accessed 18 October 2007.

Hauke, R.L. Equisetum, in Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+, Flora of North America North of Mexico 12+ vols New York and Oxford. Vol. 2, 1993.

Turnbull, K. 2003, Horsetails: State Prohibited Weed, State of Victoria, Department of Primary Industries, http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/nreninf.nsf/93a98744f6ec41bd4a256c8e00013aa9/274fb0f2115d261 6ca256e720024b618/$FILE/LC0375.pdf, accessed 18 October 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 90 Crotalaria

Rattlepod, rattlebox This is a large genus of over 500 species. About 30 of these are native to Australia and a number of exotic species have become naturalised. The Australian native species Crotalaria cunninghamii has been listed as endangered in the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act. Any Crotalaria species not native to Australia that are discovered in the NAQS region should be reported.

Weed risk assessments have been conducted for Crotalaria retusa and C. trichotoma and have indicated that these plants require further evaluation Family: Fabaceae

Description: These species are generally small to medium shrubs or are herbaceous plants and are known as "rattlepods" because the seeds are loose in the pods. The leaves are simple or palmate with three leaflets, rarely to 7 leaflets. The flowers are in terminal or leaf-opposed racemes, with bracts small or absent; bracteoles paired and small. The calyx lobes are linear or lanceolate and the petals mostly yellow, rarely green. The ‘standard’ flower parts are orbicular, rarely ovate; wings shorter than the standard; keel rounded or angled, incurved, beaked. There are 10 stamens, attached by their filaments into a single group, the stamens open on the upper side. The ovary is generally sessile, with 2 or more ovules; stigma small, rarely 2-lobed. The fruit pod is sessile or stipitate, turgid or inflated, globose to linear-oblong, dehiscent, 1-many-seeded; seed oblique- cordate to oblong-reniform.

Distribution: Species from this genus occur throughout the tropics and subtropics, with 20- 22 species in north and central Australia, all endemics except 3. The exact native range of some species is obscure.

Propagation and dispersal: Propagation is by seed, which can be dispersed by expulsion of the seeds when the pod splits, or by water, birds or human activity.

Economic importance: Some species contain toxins which accumulate in the liver and produce long- term damage which is often fatal.

References: Ali, S.I. and Qaiser, M. (eds.) 2001, Flora of Pakistan Vol 100, University of Karachi & Missouri Botanical Garden (St. Louis).

Department of Environment and Climate Change (NSW) 2004 Crotalaria cunninghamii – endangered species listing, http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/npws.nsf/Content/Crotalaria+cunninghamii+endangered+spe cies+listing accessed 13 November 2007.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2003, Crotalaria trichotoma, Institute of Pacific Island Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/wra/australia/crzan-wra.htm, accessed 13 November 2007.

Polhill, R. M. 1982, Crotalaria in Africa and Madagascar, CRC, Netherlands.

NAQS Weeds Target List 91 USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN). National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxdump.pl?Crotalaria, accessed 1 June 2006.

NAQS Weeds Target List 92 Miconia Miconia species are aggressive shrubs and trees native to tropical America. There are several known weeds within this genus, the worst being Miconia calvescens (see Primary Weed List) which has become a major pest in the rainforests of Tahiti and Hawaii. Other species of concern include Miconia racemosa and Miconia nervosa. All three of these species are now known to occur in Queensland and are all subject to eradication campaigns currently undertaken by the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water. Miconia spp. are declared noxious weeds in New South Wales, Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Description: The species are mostly shrubs and small to medium-sized trees up to 15 metres tall. Key features are the three prominent veins on each leaf and a purple colour that may develop on the undersides of some leaves. Most species reproduce from seeds which are enclosed within small black-purple or brown fruits.

Distribution: Native to central and South America.

Habitat: Moist and wet forests from sea level to 1500 metres elevation.

Propagation and dispersal: Miconias produce hundreds of small berries that can be spread many kilometres after being eaten by birds. Seeds can persist in the soil for 8 years. Long distance transportation has also been by man, with the shrubs and trees used in gardens as an ornamental.

Rate of spread: Miconias are capable of rampant growth.

Economic importance: Under favourable conditions, they form dense thickets in rainforest understoreys. They replace native vegetation and cause irreversible damage to the rainforest. Miconias also have the potential to degrade crop, plantation and pasture areas.

References:

Csurches, S. and Edwards, R. (1998). Potential Environmental Weeds in Australia, Candidate Species for Preventative Control. National Weeds Program, Queensland Department of Natural Resources.

Land Protection 2007, Miconia, Queensland Government Department of Natural Resources and Water, http://www.nrw.qld.gov.au/factsheets/pdf/pest/pp142.pdf, accessed 8 October 2007.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006. Miconia calvescens. Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/Pier/species/miconia_calvescens.htm, accessed 2 January 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 93 Acacia

Wattle There are about 1350 species in this genus and with 1000 of these endemic to Australia, it is the largest genus of vascular plants in Australia. Unfortunately both exotic and native Acacia species have the potential to become invasive in Australia.

“At least 42 species of non-native Acacia have the potential to become major environmental weeds in Australian grassland and open woodland ecosystems.” Csurhes and Edwards 1998.

Prickly acacia (Acacia nilotica ssp. indica; from Africa, Pakistan, India and Burma) is a Weed of National Significance in Australia and it infests over 6.6 million hectares of arid and semi-arid Queensland. Cutch tree (Acacia catechu; from India) and Karroo thorn (Acacia karroo; from South Africa) are both on the Alert list for Environmental Weeds and controls are in place to eradicate them from Australia. Mimosa bush (Acacia farnesiana; from Central and South America) is naturalised in Australia and it’s rapid spread and growth make it a potential grassland weed which can be confused with prickly acacia and Mimosa pigra.

The Cootamundra wattle (Acacia baileyana) has also spread beyond it native range as a garden escapee, and invasive populations persist in parts of Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. This species has also become naturalised in New Zealand and is classed as a category 3 Declared Invader in South Africa.

All Acacia species found in the NAQS region that are not native to Australia (particularly prickly species) should be reported.

Description: Small shrubs to tall trees. Individual flowers are arranged in inflorescences that may be either globular heads or cylindrical spikes. Each inflorescence may comprise from as few as 3 individual flowers to as many as 130 or more. Flowers can vary in colour through cream, pale yellow to gold. One species, Acacia purpureapetala, has purple flowers whilst a form of Acacia leprosa has red flowers. The flowers of many species are delicately perfumed. The true leaves are divided into leaflets, but a large group of wattles develop modified flat leaf-like structures called phyllodes (which are simply flattened stems) soon after germination. The foliage colour ranges from light or dark green to blue or silver-grey. A few species lack true leaves or phyllodes altogether and in these plants cladodes (which are simply modified stems) function as the leaves. The seeds are enclosed in a pod, which tend to be numerous.

Distribution: Australia, Africa, Madagascar and throughout the Asia-Pacific region and in the Americas.

Propagation and dispersal: By seed, or from root suckers.

Economic importance: Infestations of invasive Acacia species form dense thickets that are impenetrable to stock and exclude establishment of locally indigenous species.

The Australian National Botanic Gardens 2004, The Genus Acacia, Australian Government Department of the Environment and Water Resources and the Australian National Botanic Gardens, http://www.anbg.gov.au/acacia/, accessed 13 November 2007.

CRC for Australian Weed Management 2003, Prickly acacia – Acacia nilotica weeds of national significance weed management guide, CRC for Australian Weed Management, the Department of Environment and Water Resources and the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water, http://www.weeds.crc.org.au/documents/wmg_prickly_acacia.pdf, accessed 13 November 2007.

The Western Australia Department of Environment and Conservation, Shire of Dalwallinu and CSIRO 2004 World Wide Wattle http://www.worldwidewattle.com/speciesgallery/home.php, accessed 13 November 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 95 Mimosa A genus with about 600 species, many species from the genus Mimosa have become pantropic weeds. In Australia, several species of Mimosa have established as significant weeds. Mimosa pigra is listed as a Weed of National Significance in Australia. The weed forms dense stands that replace all native vegetation on the ecologically and economically valuable wetlands of the Top End of northern Australia. The inedible and thorny M. pigra smothers and replaces grasslands, blocks access to stock watering points and hinders mustering. Additionally, the harvesting of bush foods by indigenous people is hampered by the weed. Although currently limited in distribution, M. pigra has the potential to dominate wetlands across the whole of northern Australia.

Mimosa diplotricha (syn. M. invisa) is a shrubbing or sprawling annual that is also considered an invasive weed in Australia. It is mainly found along the wet tropical Queenland coast and is a problem in sugar cane and pasture. The weed forms dense thickets that choke out cane, other crops and grassland, causing crop and pasture loss. It is also a fire hazard when dry. Mimosa pudica is another weed that is also found in Queensland as well as being a declared noxious weed in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Similar to M. diplotricha, M. pudica forms a dense ground cover, preventing establishment of other species.

Description: Includes trees, shrubs and herbs, most of which are armed. Leaves are bipinnate with mostly 2 secondary leaflet stalks that are stipellate (having small outgrowths from leaf bases) The flower inflorescence is a globose head or cylindric spike and flowers are small and lack stalks. The calyx is usually minute and the petals are normally united at their base. The stamens equal or double the number of petals and are often twice as long as the corolla. The pod fruit is oblong or linear, usually plano-compressed with two valves. The seeds are ovate or orbicular and are flat.

Distribution: Mostly from tropics and subtropics.

Propagation and dispersal: In some species, seeds are in spiny pod segments that are spread by floating on water as well as by spiny segments adhering to animal fur and clothing.

Economic importance: Many Mimosa species form dense thickets, crowding out other species and can dominate wetlands and grasslands.

References:

Ali, S.I. 1973, Flora of Pakistan Vol 36, University of Karachi and Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis.

Australian Weeds Committee, Giant Sensitive Plant, National Weeds Strategy and Australian Weeds Committee, http://www.weeds.org.au/cgi-bin/weedident.cgi? tpl=plant.tpl&state=&s=&ibra=all&card=S17, 16 October 2007.

CRC Weed Management 2003, Mimosa pigra - Weed Management Guide, CRC for Australian Weed Management and the Commonwealth Department of the Environment and Heritage, http://www.weeds.crc.org.au/documents/wmg_mimosa.pdf, accessed 16 October 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 96 Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2007. Mimosa pudicas. Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/Pier/species/mimosa_pudica.htm, accessed 16 October 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 97 Prosopis

Mesquite This is a genus of about 50 mostly spiny shrubs and trees, 25 of which are on the United States federal noxious weeds list. All Prosopis species are declared Weeds of National Significance in Australia. There are four species and several hybrids present in Australia that are of concern, as species in this genera form dense thickets, forming habitat for feral animals, excluding and sometimes poisoning livestock, increasing erosion by suppressing grasses and the thorns cause damage to vehicle tyres. Most impacts are in pastoral and grazing regions, with current infestations covering 800,000 hectares.

A number of characteristics make mesquite successful invaders, including; rapid germination of seedlings under a range of conditions, rapid vertical penetration of tap roots and long shallow lateral roots, an ability to resprout from dormant stem buds following injury, drought resistance, spines, readily dispersed hard-coated seed, long seed dormancy and high fecundity.

Description: Species in this genus include multi-stemmed shrubby bushes, or single stemmed trees, with a spreading canopy, from three metres to 15 metres tall. The branches have a distinctive zig-zag structure, with single branches extending outside the main canopy. The hybrids generally grow as smaller, multi-stemmed trees with branches drooping to the ground. The dark green or blue-green leaves are fern-like and occur at each point where the branch changes direction, in groups of one to three pairs, often with one or two thorns. The greenish, cream to yellow flowers are arranged on a cylindrical spike, 50-80 millimetres long. The seedpods are 10-20 centimetres long, with slight constrictions between the seeds. Each pod contains 5-20 hard seeds. Spines range from 4-75 millimetres long.

Distribution: Central America, northern South America and southern North America, Hawaii, Jamaica, the Middle East, Asia, India, Africa.

Propagation and dispersal: By seed spread by stock and flooding and from root suckers.

Economic importance: The dense thickets formed by infestations prevent stock accessing water points and make mustering difficult. Livestock which consume excessive amounts of seedpods may be poisoned. In the 1980’s the United States experienced production losses for $200-500 million per year from mesquite infestations.

References:

Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand, Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council and Forestry Ministers 2000, Weeds of National Significance Mesquite (Prosopis species) Strategic Plan, National Weeds Strategy Executive Committee, Launceston.

Center for Plant Health Science and Technology, Plant Protection and Quarantine, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture n.d. Federal Noxious Weed

NAQS Weeds Target List 98 Disseminules of the U.S., http://www.lucidcentral.org/keys/FNW/FNW%20seeds/html/fact %20sheets/Prosopis.htm, accessed 14 November 2007

CRC for Australian Weed Management 2003, Mesquite – Prosopis species weeds of national significance weed management guide, CRC for Australian Weed Management, the Department of Environment and Water Resources and the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water, http://www.weeds.gov.au/publications/guidelines/wons/pubs/prosopis.pdf, accessed 14 November 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 99 Ziziphus

Jujube This is a genus of around 100 tropical and subtropical species, some of which are native to Australia. The fruits of all Ziziphus spp are edible. Some species (Z. mauritiana and Z. jujuba) are widespread globally and are used for food, fuel and fodder in some parts of India, Africa and China. Unfortunately the attributes that make them hardy arid zone plants (deep rooted, vigorous resprouting and readily outcrossed, leading to herbicide resistance) also make these plants aggressive weeds. In northern Australian tropical woodlands, Z. mauritiana is an invasive shrub dispersed primarily by domestic cattle, declared noxious in the Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia. Z. spina-christi is declared noxious in Queensland and prohibited in Western Australia.

Family: Rhamnaceae

Description: This is a genus of spiny, deciduous, or evergreen trees or shrubs, to 12 metres in height. The leaves are medium-sized; alternate; with or without leaf stalks; with ‘normal’ orientation, and simple leaf shape. The leaf blades are entire; ovate; 3- to 5- veined (palmately) and oblique at the base (‘distinctly asymmetric’ base). The mature leaf blades are glabrous above; sparsely to moderately pubescent on the undersurface. The leaf stipules are frequently spinescent. The fertile flowers are hermaphrodite. The floral parts are in groups of five and petals may be absent. The flowers are small, aggregated in axillary cymes, or in umbel compound inflorescences. The terminal inflorescence unit is cymose. The flowers are minute and regular with anthers separate from one another; dehiscing via longitudinal slits. The fruit is an aerial indehiscent fleshy drupe; 10–18 millimetres long.

Distribution: Africa, tropical and subtropical Asia, Australia, Mediterranean Europe, USA, Mexico, South America.

Propagation and dispersal: By seed. While one plant can produce more than 5000 fruits per year, less than 10% of Z. mauritiana seeds will germinate if the woody endocarp is not removed, or if the seeds remain buried in soil for 12 months.

Economic importance: This is a multipurpose tree, used for cash crops, food, fodder, fuel, shelter, erosion control and fencing throughout it’s arid range. References:

Arndt, S.K. 2001, The plant: Ziziphus, Chemical Ecology and Ecosystem Research, Vienna Ecology Centre, University of Vienna, http://chemsrv0.pph.univie.ac.at/SKA/ziplant.htm, accessed 31 October 2007.

Grice, A.C. 1998, ‘Ecology in the management of Indian jujube (Ziziphus mauritiana)’, Weed Science 46: 467-474.

Grice, A.C. 1996, Seed production, dispersal and germination in Cryptostegia grandiflora and Ziziphus mauritiana, two invasive shrubs in tropical woodlands of northern Australia, Austral Ecology 21: 324-331.

NAQS Weeds Target List 100 Richardson, B. and McFarlane, T.D. 2007, Ziziphus in FloraBase the Western Australian Flora, http://florabase.dec.wa.gov.au/browse/profile/21740, accessed 30 October 2007.

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN). National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxdump.pl?Ziziphus, accessed 1 June 2006.

NAQS Weeds Target List 101 Salvinia Salvinia represents a single genus in the Salviniaceae family of remarkably adapted water ferns. Several of the species within this genus are listed as weeds internationally, including Salvinia molesta, Salvinia cucullata (see Primary Weed List) and Salvinia natans (see Appendix Weed List), which tends to be more temperate in distribution. S. molesta is a Weed of National Significance in Australia and is considered one of the worst weeds due to its invasiveness, potential for spread, and economic and environmental impacts. It has infested most coastal streams from Cairns in northern Queensland to Moruya on the south coast of New South Wales and remote infestations affect the Top End of the Northern Territory and regions of Western Australia.

Currently neither Salvinia cucullata nor Salvinia natans are present in Australia. Legislation regarding the noxious status of S. molesta exists in all Australian States and Territories, and Salvinia spp. are declared weeds in Queensland and prohibited in Western Australia.

Description: All species are free-floating aquatic ferns. They have small, spongy, horizontally spreading green leaves positioned in pairs along a common stem, with many multicellular hairs. The surface of each leaf is covered with long, stiff, water-repellent hairs. When the plant matures, the leaves become thick and fold at the mid-rib. Sporocarps (fruiting bodies) are borne on chainlike or cymelike organs or submerged leaves.

Distribution: Mostly tropical (however S. natans extends into temperate regions), including North and South America, Asia and Africa.

Habitat: Slow-moving freshwater bodies, rice fields, shallow pools.

Propagation and dispersal: Vegetative fragments and spores spread by water. Transported to water bodies by human activities as well as possibly water birds.

Economic importance: Species of this genus can choke waterways and grow rapidly to cover the entire water surface with a thick mat of vegetation. This shades out any submerged plant life and impedes oxygen exchange, making the water unsuitable for fish and other animals. They block irrigation, cause flooding, pollute drinking water, and prevent recreational activities such as swimming, fishing and boating. The infestations also provide an ideal breeding environment for disease-carrying mosquitoes. Salvinia spp. are declared noxious in Queensland, and prohibited in Western Australia. Salvinia molesta is a declared weed in all Australian States and Territories; S. cucullata and S. natans are declared noxious in the Northern Territory.

CRC Weed Management 2003, Weed Management Guide: Salvinia, Commonwealth Government Department of the Environment and Heritage, http://www.weeds.crc.org.au/documents/wmg_salvinia.pdf, accessed 11 January 2007.

Land Protection 2006, Pest Series Facts: Salvinia, Queensland Government Natural Resources and Water. http://www.nrw.qld.gov.au/factsheets/pdf/pest/pp12.pdf, accessed 11 January 2007.

Naples, M.L. and Kessler, P.J. 2005, Weeds of Rain Fed Lowland Rice Fields of Laos & Cambodia, Unpublished MSc thesis, University of Leiden.

Nauman, C.E. Salviniaceae. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+, Flora of North America North of Mexico 12+ vols New York and Oxford. Vol. 2.

NAQS Weeds Target List 103 Striga

Witchweed Striga species are one of the very few flowering plants that are parasitic on other plants. The Striga genus has been given the common name of "witchweed" because of the various debilitating effects inflicted upon its host in addition to attaching to the roots and robbing the host of water and nutrients. Striga species are most severe in low moisture and low fertility soils, with the thousands of seeds produced by plants remaining dormant but viable for many years. Practical control methods consist of a combination of crop rotation with non-hosts, weeding (sanitation), and resistant varieties. Many species of Striga are very difficult to eradicate once they become established. Striga species of particular concern include S. asiatica (see Primary Weed List), S. angustifolia S. hermonthica, S. aspera and S. forbesii.

Description: A yellowish-green, parasitic herb. Leaves are opposite below, alternate above, sometimes reduced to scales. The flowers are solitary in lead axils or spikes. The flower calyx is tubular, conspicuously 5-15 ribbed and 5-lobed. The flower corolla is tubular, with the petals spreading to form a flat surface at the tip, with the tube curved in the middle or apically. The capsule is a locule, with numerous seeds, ovoid to oblong.

Distribution: Africa and tropical to subtropical Asia.

Habitat: Grasslands.

Propagation and dispersal: Dust-like seeds are dispersed by wind, water, cultivation, soil on tools, or even grazing and manure fertilization.

Economic importance: Globally, parasitic weeds of the genus Striga have a gigantic impact on human welfare in both Africa and Asia because their hosts are often subsistence crops in marginal areas of agriculture in semi-arid and sub- humid tropical regions. Yield losses of 5-15% are common, although locally, under severe infestations, losses can far exceed this amount. Badly infested fields may have hundreds of thousands of plants per hectare.

References:

Flora of China Editorial Committee, eds. 1998. Flora of China. Vol. 18 (Scrophulariaceae through Gesneriaceae), Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

NBII 2006, Striga asiatica, National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) and Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp? si=968&fr=1&sts=, accessed 16 October 2007.

Shank, R. Striga: Facts and Peculiarities Information Report, Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia, http://www.africa.upenn.edu/EUE/striga.html, accessed 5 February

NAQS Weeds Target List 104 Simberloff, D. (2003). Eradication – preventing invasions at the outset. Weed Science 51:247-253.

NAQS Weeds Target List 105 Trapa

Floating water chestnut, water caltrop The Trapa genus consists of about 30 species of floating aquatic plants. There are at least four species of concern which could establish as weeds: Trapa bicornis var. cochinchinensis, T. bispinosa, T. maximowiczii and T. natans. The genus has been declared as a weed in New South Wales, Western Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory and Queensland, while T. natans has been declared in South Australia.

Family: Trapaceae

Description: A genus of rooted or floating aquatic annual herbs. The stem is submerged, slender, unbranched, with elongate internodes. Adventitious roots develop from leaf scars, and are highly dissected, leaflike, photosynthetic. There are two types of leaves; submerged leaves are opposite, lack leaf stalks, simple, linear and fall from the plant early; floating leaves are crowded terminally into a rosette. The flowers are solitary in upper leaf axils, flowering at water surface, bisexual, in groups of four and star-shaped. The floral tube is developed, with the floral parts attached to or near the summit of the ovary. There are four sepals, which persist as hardened horns of fruit, and four petals which are white or lilac and deciduous. The fruit is indehiscent, 2-4-horned, turban-,cup- or elongate-rhombic-shaped, with a succulent outer skin, ephemeral, and a stony seed, with a thin to prominent crest between and along the horns. The fruit is topped by a dome-shaped or tetragonal to rounded crown, with crown apex a pointed beak or a tuft of hairs.

Distribution: Native to central and south-eastern Europe, temperate and tropical Asia and Africa, several Trapa species have been introduced into Canada and the U.S.A.

Habitat: Slow moving water bodies up to 5 metres deep.

Propagation and dispersal: The plant spreads when rosettes detach from the stems and float to another area. The fruit can also be spread by birds and other animals.

Economic importance: Large populations can create nearly impenetrable mats across wide areas of water. The genus out-competes native plants for sunlight and can reduce oxygen levels in water bodies, leading to increased potential of fish kills. The mats can also make waterways inaccessible to boats. The sharp spines on Trapa spp. fruit are also a hazard for humans and animals. Plants are regionally cultivated for their fruit, which contain abundant starch and are consumed both raw and cooked. The fruit and fresh plants can be used for pig feed.

Csurhes, S., Wilson, B., Carter, R., Moore, R. and Cooke, D. 2001, Uniform State/Territory controls over the trade and distribution of highly invasive plants, Standing Committee on Agriculture and Resource Management, http://www.weeds.org.au/docs/Uniform_State_Controls.pdf, accessed 15 November 2007.

Hosking, J., van Oosterhout, E. and Ensbey, R., Water caltrop – Trapa spp., NSW Department of Primary Industries, http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/156660/water-caltrop- alert.pdf, accessed 15 November 2007.

NBII and ISSG 2005, Trapa natans, National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) and Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp? si=567&fr=1&sts=, accessed 15 November 2007.

Wu, Z. Y., P. H. Raven & D. Y. Hong, eds. 2007. Flora of China. Vol. 13 (Clusiaceae through Araliaceae). Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis. p 290.

NAQS Weeds Target List 107 NAQS Appendix Weed List Profiles

Lasia spinosa (L.) Thwaites

Synonyms: Dracontium spinosum L. Lasia aculeata Lour

Family: Araceae

Description: A spinous, perennial rhizomatous herb. The leaves are variously spined, pinnate, juvenile leaves deeply dissected, mature leaves can grow to one metre. The inflorescences are a solitary spadix, surrounded by a pink to dark morone, spirally twisted spathe. The flowers are hermaphroditic and may be sterile at the tip of the spadix. The red berry fruit have rudimentary spines, one to several seeded, ovoid to obpyramidal, sessile on the spadix and are persistent.

Origin: South and south-east Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam), Papua New Guinea.

Distribution: South and south-east Asia, Papua New Guinea.

Habitat: Lowland, rainforest floor and monsoon forest areas, semi aquatic, swampy sites.

Propagation and dispersal: By seed or rhizomes.

Economic importance: Recorded as a weed in Malaysia, used in traditional medicine in Vietnam. This species is on the permitted seeds list and has been found for sale at markets in Darwin.

References:

Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) GBIF Data Portal http://data.gbif.org/welcome.htm accessed 15 October, 2007.

Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk (HEAR) 2007, Global Compendium of Weeds database http://hear.org/gcw/index.html, accessed 15 October 2007.

Hay, A. 1992, Tribal and Subtribal Delineation and Circumscription of the genera of Araceae Tribe Lasieae, Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 79:1, pp 184-205.

Temjenmongla; Yadav, Arun 2006, Anticestodal Efficacy of Lasia spinosa Extract Against Experimental Hymenolepis diminuta Infections in Rats Pharmaceutical Biology 44: 7 October 2006, pp 499-502.

NAQS Weeds Target List 108 Lagascea mollis Cav.

Acuate, doll’s head, silk-leaf, velvet bush

Synonyms: Nocca mollis (Cav.) Jacq.

Family: Asteraceae

Description: An upright, annual herb with a hairy stem. The leaves are alternate, simple and angular-ovate, ovate or narrowly ovate. The leaf margins are finely serrate, with an acute or acuminate apex and a cuneate base. The leaf blade extends narrowly from the point of attachment to the leaf stalk and the upper and lower leaf surfaces are finely hairy. The flower inflorescence is terminal and the flower stalk is densely hairy, including hairs with greenish or yellowish glandular tips. The inflorescence is head-like and consists of many stalkless heads, subtended by 6-8 bracts. These bracts are fleshy, elliptic, acuminate, hairy outside and inside. Individual heads have an whorl of 4-5 bracts fused into a tube, with 4-5 narrowly triangular lobes. The bract whorl is hairy both outside and inside. The flower corolla is narrowly funnel- shaped, with 5 lobes with hairs outside, especially near the apex. The corolla is white with 5 longitudinal purple lines on the tube, green on the base of the tube and purple on the apex of lobes. There are 5 stamens, the ovary is inferior and there are 2 stigma lobes.

Origin: Central America (Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama), South America (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela) and Cuba.

Distribution: Central and South America, Africa, India, south-east Asia, USA (including Hawaii).

Habitat: Upland conditions, crop fields, roadsides and waste places

Propagation and dispersal: Species in this family tend to have wind-dispersed seed.

Economic importance: Pantropical weed. Noxious weed in Hawaii.

References:

Harris, E.M. 1997, Lagascea In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee (eds.) 1993. Flora of North America North of Mexico. New York and Oxford. Vol. 21, p. 136.

The International Plant Names Index 2004, http://www.ipni.org, accessed 16 October 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 109 Cleome rutidosperma DC.

Fringed spiderflower

Synonyms: Cleome ciliata Schumach. & Thonn.

Family: Capparaceae

Description: Erect, branched, annual herb 15–100 centimetres tall with angular stems. The leaves have 3 ovate to spearshaped (lanceolate) leaflets, 2–5 centimetres long, 0.5–2.5 centimetres wide, margins with short bristles, leaf stalk to 5 centimetres long. The flowers are solitary, axillary, with 4 sepals and 4 petals, 9–12 millimetres long, crimson, turning pink. The fruit is a cylindrical, 2–valved, beaked capsule 5–7 centimetres long, 4–5 millimetres wide. The seeds are numerous, black to brown, 1.8–2 millimetres in diameter, sperical to kidney shaped and strongly ribbed.

Origin: Tropical Africa (Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Cote D'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia).

Distribution: Tropical Africa, central America, south and east Asia (Cambodia, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam), Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Christmas Island, Australia (under eradication).

Habitat: Disturbed areas, roadsides, cropped and abandoned land, in moist sandy soils. Plants are often observed growing as epiphytes on cliff faces, stone walls and trees.

Propagation and dispersal: Seed dispersed by ants, in water and in farm machinery and produce.

Rate of spread: Rapid, prolific seed production.

Economic importance: This species is a serious weed of agricultural and natural ecosystems in Asia. It infests rubber plantations and orchards in Thailand, and maize and cotton in the Philippines. It is also a host of squash mosaic comovirus, a serious pathogen affecting cucurbitaceae, one of the principal vegetable families grown in Malaysia. A minor environmental weed that has become established in the Darwin area.

References:

Baki, B., Yong, W.K. and Fenny, W.N.Y. 1997, ‘Quantitative assessments and spatial pattern analyses of weed seed banks of arable peat in Selangor, Malaysia’, Korean Journal of Weed Science 17: 269-280.

Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Northern Territory of Australia 2001, Agnote - Northern Territory of Australia. Fringed spider flower: (Cleome rutidosperma), Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Northern Territory of Australia, Darwin.

Huang, T-C. (Editor-in-chief) 1996, Flora of Taiwan Vol 2, Department of Botany, National Taiwan University, Taipai, Taiwan, p 739.

NAQS Weeds Target List 110 Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2007, Cleome rutidosperma, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/cleome_rutidosperma.htm, accessed 30 October 2007.

Pamplona, P.P. 1988, ‘Weed control management in corn in the Philippines’, Proceedings of the Third Asian regional maize workshop 3: 148-159.

Sidek, Z., Barin, J., and Sulaiman, I. 1999, ‘Weed hosts of cucurbit viruses’ Agro-search 6.

Uyemura, S. and Mizuta M. 2002, ‘Cleome rutidosperma DC., newly naturalized to Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan’, Bunrui 2: 27-28.

Waterhouse, B.M. (2003) Know your enemy: recent records of potentially serious weeds in northern Australia, Papua New Guinea and Papua (Indonesia) Telopea 10:(1):2003.

NAQS Weeds Target List 111 Ipomoea wrightii Gray

Palmleaf morning glory

Synonyms: Ipomoea heptaphylla (Rottb. & Willd.) Voigt Ipomoea pulchella Roth Ipomoea spiralis House

Family: Convolvulaceae

Description: A trailing or climbing annual or perennial vine with glabrous stems to 2 metres. The leaves are lobed with 3 to 7 palmately divided leaflets, to 4 centimetres long. The tubular flowers are pink to light purple, 1.5-2.5 centimetres long and occur singly. The fruit is a brown glabrous capsule with a spiralled stalk. The seeds are dark brown with long white hairs attached.

Origin: Caribbean (Cuba, Dominican Republic), central America (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico) and South America (Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru).

Distribution: Caribbean, central and South America, USA (lower southeast), Tanzania.

Habitat: Disturbed sites, roadsides, railroads, cultivated areas.

Propagation and dispersal: By seed.

Economic importance: A weed of agriculture in the lower southeastern states of USA. Two other species in this genus, I. cairica and I. indica are declared noxious weeds in New South Wales.

References:

Bradley, K. and Hagood, S. 2007, Virginia Tech Weed Identification Guide, http://www.ppws.vt.edu/weedindex.htm, accessed 16 October 2007.

Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) 2007, GBIF Data Portal, http://data.gbif.org/welcome.htm, accessed 15 October, 2007.

Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk (HEAR) 2007, Global Compendium of Weeds database, http://hear.org/gcw/index.html, accessed 15 October 2007.

Tenaglia, D. 2007, Alabamaplants.com, http://alabamaplants.com/, accessed 16 October, 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 112 Bolboschoenus maritimus (L.) Palla

Sea clubrush, saltmarsh bulrush, puruagrass, prairie rush

Synonyms: Bulboschoenus maritimus (L.)Palla

Family: Cyperaceae

Description: This species is a perennial, leafy sedge 50-100 centimetres tall, with stout, creeping rhizomes. The aerial stems are triangular in section, with swollen bases. The leaves are linear, flat, rough, 3-8 millimetres wide. The terminal inflorescence is subtended by 2-5 long, leaf-like bracts. The flower spikelets may be solitary or in groups, 10- 35 millimetres long, having flower stalks to 5 millimetres long, or without flower stalks, many-flowered. The fruit is a pear-shaped nut, 2-3 millimetres in diameter.

Origin: Unknown.

Distribution: Cosmopolitan, including Europe and Canada. In the tropics occurs in Africa, southwest Asia, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Phillipines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Habitat: Bogs, shores, commonly in saline soil.

Propagation and dispersal: Nuts dispersed by water, vegetative spread by rhizomes and ploughing.

Rate of spread: Not known.

Economic importance: A serious weed in the Philippines and a principal weed in India, Cambodia and Senegal. It is an important weed of rice.

References:

Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), GBIF Data Portal http://data.gbif.org/welcome.htm accessed 15 October, 2007.

Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk (HEAR) 2007, Global Compendium of Weeds database, http://hear.org/gcw/index.html, accessed 15 October 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 113 Waterhouse, B.M. and Mitchell, A.A. 1998, Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy Weeds Target List. AQIS Miscellaneous Publication no. 6/9: Canberra.Eleocharis congesta D. Don

Spikerush

Synonyms: Eleocharis pellucida J & C.Presl Eleocharis subvivipara Boeck. Eleocharis japonica Miq.

Family: Cyperaceae

Description: A small, slender annual, 3-30 centimetres tall. The leaf blades are densely tufted with white, fibrous roots. The stem is 0.7-1 millimetres in diameter and angular, with angles separated by deep grooves and reddish basal parts. The leaf sheaths are 0.5-3 centimetres long, ephemeral, membraneous, pale and reddish on the lower parts. The flower spike is 4-6 millimetres long, ellipsoid or ovoid, brownish green and of 30-100 tightly overlapping glumes (bracts). The glumes are 1-1.8 millimetres, boat-shaped, wide and obtuse at the apex, with a green mid-vein that does not reach the apex. The glume sides are nerve-less, dry, thin and membraneous and are reddish-brown towards the apex. The nut fruit is obovoid in shape, 0.8-1 millimetres long, 0.5-0.6 millimetres wide, yellowish brown, obscurely veined and glossy. There are 6-7 bristles which are longer than the nut and are light brown in colour.

Eleocharis is a difficult group to differentiate.

Origin: Unknown.

Distribution: China, India, Indonesia (except Moluccas and Irian Jaya), Japan, Pakistan and Philippines.

Habitat: Shallow water, inundated and marshy places, ditches. Grows up to 2800 metres altitude.

Propagation and dispersal: The nut is dispersed by water.

Economic importance: A weed in lowland-irrigated and tidal rice fields.

References:

Ali, S.I. and Qaiser, M. (eds.) 2001, Flora of Pakistan, Vol 206 .University of Karachi & Missouri Botanical Garden (St. Louis).

Huang, T-C. (Editor-in-chief) 2003, Flora of Taiwan Vol 6, Department of Botany, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, p 257.

Naples, M.L. 2005, Weeds of Rain Fed Lowland Rice Fields of Laos & Cambodia, Unpublished MSc thesis, University of Leiden.

Soerjani, M., Kostermans, A.J.H.G., and Tjitrosoepomo, G. 1987, Weeds of Rice in Indonesia. BIOTROP, Bogor, Indonesia.

NAQS Weeds Target List 114 Fimbristylis umbellaris (Lam.) Vahl

Globular fimbristylis

Synonyms: F. efoliata Steud. F. globulosa (Retz.) Kunth Scirpus globulosus Retz.

Family: Cyperaceae

Description: Perennial, rhizomatous sedge 20-120 centimetres tall. The stems are densely tufted. The leaves of sterile shoots and young plants are flat, to 1.5 millimetres wide, reduced to leaf sheaths on mature plants. The flower inflorescence is apical, simple or compound, 3-10 centimetres long, with up to 10 primary rays and 2 or 3 short, erect, basal involucral bracts. The flower spikelets are arranged singly or in groups of many per inflorescence, globose to ovoid, 4-8 – 3-4 millimetres, comprised of many flowers. The fruit is a 3-angled or biconvex warty nut, 0.8-1 – 0.6-0.8 millimetres.

Origin: South and east Asia (Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Laos, Nepal, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam), Pacific (Federated States of Micronesia, French Polynesia) and Papua New Guinea.

Distribution: Asia, Pacific and Papua New Guinea.

Habitat: Wet open places, swamps, pastures, generally less than 1000 metres altitude.

Propagation and dispersal: The nuts are dispersed by water and birds; vegetative spread by rhizomes and ploughing.

Economic importance: Serious weed in Borneo and a common weed in India. A weed of rice. Cultivated in Malaysia and parts of Indonesia for matting. This species is declared noxious in the Northern Territory.

References:

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Fimbristylis umbellaris, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/fimbristylis_umbellaris.htm, accessed 30 October 2007.

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN), National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?402826, accessed 1 June 2006.

NAQS Weeds Target List 115 Bergia capensis L.

Bergia

Synonyms: Bergia aquatica Roxb. Bergia repens Blume. Bergia verticillata Willd. Elatine verticillata Willd.

Family: Elatinaceae

Description: An annual herb, 15-30 centimetres tall, with a prostrate, cylindrical, slightly glabrous stem and erect branches. The elliptic-lanceolate, obovate-lanceolate, or obovate leaf is 1-4 by 0.2-1 centimetres in size. The leaf is papery, with an acuminate base and minutely serrulate or subentire margin and an acute or attenuate apex. The leaf stalk is 1-5 millimetres long and flattened. The flowers are arranged into small, axillary cyme inflorescences, subsessile or with a short stalk 1-5 millimetres long. The sepals are erect and narrowly lanceolate, 1-2 millimetres. The flower petals are pink, oblong, equaling or slightly exceeding sepals. The fruit is a subglobose capsule around 1.8 millimetres in diameter, longitudinally 5-grooved, 5-septicidal. The seeds are oblong, minute, angular or transversely striate.

Origin: Unknown, possibly China.

Distribution: Tropical America (Costa Rica), south and south-east Asia (China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand), south-west Asia (Iran, Iraq), Africa (Egypt, Gambia, Ghana, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Zimbabwe), Europe (Spain).

Habitat: Paddy fields, moist places, swampy sites, wet grasslands, in pools, on riverbanks; mostly in areas with a pronounced dry season; 0-600 metres altitude.

Propagation and dispersal: Lower stem parts can take root and grow.

Economic importance: A minor weed of rice in lowland irrigated and rainfed rice fields. On the Western Australia prohibited species list.

References:

Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) 2007, GBIF Data Portal http://data.gbif.org/welcome.htm accessed 15 October, 2007.

Naples, M.L. 2005, Weeds of Rain Fed Lowland Rice Fields of Laos & Cambodia. Unpublished MSc thesis, University of Leiden.

Soerjani, M., Kostermans, A.J.H.G. and Tjitrosoepomo, G.1987, Weeds of Rice in Indonesia. BIOTROP, Bogor, Indonesia.

NAQS Weeds Target List 116 United Nations Environment Programme and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre 2007, UNEP-WCMC Species Database http://sea.unep-wcmc.org/isdb/Taxonomy/, accessed 16 October 2007.

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network – (GRIN). National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?450122, accessed 1 June 2006.

Wu, Z.Y. and Raven, P.H., eds. 1994, Flora of China. Vol. 13 (Elatinaceae), Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

NAQS Weeds Target List 117 Eriocaulon truncatum Buch.-Ham. Ex Mart

Synonyms: Eriocaulon merillii Ruhland

Family: Eriocaulaceae

Description: Tufted herb, 5-20centimetres tall. The leaves are strap-like, 20-60 millimetres long and 1-8 millimetres wide, with gradually tapering, blunt apices. The floral heads are slightly flattened and globular, 4.5-5.5 millimetres in diameter, on glabrous stalks 5- 20 centimetres long. It has male flowers with minute petals, and female flowers with three sparsely hairy white petals 1.3-1.5mm long, each tipped with a dark gland. Seeds are yellow, ribbed and 0.5-0.7 millimetres long.

Origin: South and south-east Asia (Cambodia, China, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam).

Distribution: Asia, Papua New Guinea.

Habitat: Wetlands, swampy areas, ditches, riverbanks, floodplains, rice growing areas. Exists at up to 500 metres altitude in China.

Propagation and dispersal: Seeds dispersed by water and birds.

Economic importance: A serious weed of rice in India, but of minor importance elsewhere. This species is declared noxious in the Northern Territory.

References:

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Eriocaulon truncatum, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/eriocaulon_truncatum.htm, accessed 30 October 2007.

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network – (GRIN). National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?448589, accessed 1 June 2006.

Wu, Z. Y. & P. H. Raven, eds. 2000. Flora of China. Vol. 24 (Flagellariaceae through Marantaceae). Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

NAQS Weeds Target List 118 Myriophyllum spicatum L. Eurasian watermilfoil, spiked watermilfoil Synonyms: None

Family: Haloragaceae

Description: Perennial aquatic herb with submerged stems and the seed spike above water. The plant is rooted, but the stem grows to the water surface, usually about 2 metres, but can be as much as 10 metres. Leaves grow in whorls of four and are sessile, feathery and 2-3.5 centimetres long. The inflorescence is an aerial, terminal spike, 3-8 centimetres long, with 4 flowers at each node. Female flowers are found in the lower whorls, with petals up to 1 millimetres long. Male flowers are found in upper whorls, with 4 reddish petals to 2.5 millimetres long, and 8 stamens. Fruit is ovoid, to 2.5 millimetres long, with 4 dry, 1-seeded nutlets. It forms dense mats on the water surface.

Origin: Eurasia and northern Africa.

Distribution: Widely distributed in the northern hemisphere. Also in southern Africa, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Philippines, Cambodia.

Habitat: Lakes, ponds, shallow reservoirs and slow-moving areas of rivers and streams. It tolerates a wide pH range and brackish water of protected tidal creeks and bays. It can be particularly troublesome in disturbed water bodies such as those with nutrient loading or high boating activity.

Propagation and dispersal: Vegetative fragments and seed are spread by moving water and water birds.

Economic importance: In the USA and South Africa this is a serious weed of aquatic habitats. It chokes lakes and water storages, crowding out native species, affecting environmental flows, fish and shellfish production, recreation and impeding boating traffic. This species is declared noxious in the Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales, and is prohibited in Western Australia.

References:

Jacono, C.C. and Richerson, M.M. 2003, Myriophyllum spicatum, United States Geological Survey (USGS) Nonindigenous Aquatic Species (NAS) database, http://nas.er.usgs.gov/taxgroup/plants/docs/my_spica.html, accessed 31 October 2007.

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) 2007. The PLANTS Database, National Plant Data Centre, Baton Rouge, http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=MYSP2, accessed on 31 October 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 119 Hyptis brevipes Poit. Lesser roundweed, chibolita Synonyms: None

Family: Lamiaceae

Description: Erect herb, 0.5-1.5 metres tall. Stems have a single, deep, longitudinal groove. Leaves are opposite, narrowly lanceolate to oblong, 4-8 centimetres long and 1-2.5 centimetres wide, with toothed margins. The leaf stalks are 0.5-1 centimetres and hairy. Flowers are in pale green globose heads, on axillary stalks 5-12 millimetres long. Flower heads are 6-8 millimetres in diameter, expanding to 8-14 millimetres in diameter when in fruit. Bracts are linear to narrowly lanceolate, 4-6 millimetres long. The flower calyx gland is dotted, tubular and 3-5 millimetres long when in fruit. The flower corolla is irregular, 5-lobed, 3-4 millimetres long and white. Anthers are purple. The fruit is a brownish black, with a minutely wrinkled nutlet, 0.7 millimetres long.

Origin: Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama), South America (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela), Cuba.

Distribution: Central and South America, south east Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam).

Habitat: Disturbed lands, waste areas, fallow ground. Prefers wet tropical climate, 0-1200 metres altitude. Less common in regions with a seasonal wet/dry regime.

Propagation and dispersal: Seeds dispersed by wildlife and human activities.

Economic importance: Weed of plantation crops, rice, fallow ground and forest-agricultural land margins. Potential pasture weed. This species is a declared noxious weed in the Northern Territory. Two other species in this genus, H. capitata and H. suaveolens are also declared in the Northern Territory, and are prohibited in Western Australia.

References:

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2007, Germplasm Resources Information Network – (GRIN) . National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?448591, accessed 31 October 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 120 Pogostemon auricularia (L.) El-Gazzar & L. Watson

Synonyms: Dysophylla auricularia (L.) Blume Mentha auricularia L.

Family: Lamiaceae

Description: This plant is a herb up to 50 centimetres tall, covered with hairs that are divided into compartments. The stems are erect, and villous (covered in soft hairs). The leaf blades are 2-6 centimetres long and 1-2 centimetres wide, elliptic to ovate in shape with a cuneate base, acute apex and serrate margins. Both surfaces are villous with veinlets prominent beneath. The leaf stalks are also villous and are 3-8 centimetres long. The inflorescence is a group of cymes forming dense, cylindric terminal spikes up to 10 centimetres long. The bracteoles are ovate and bear minute, soft hairs along the margins. The calyx is bell-shaped, minutely hairy, glandular dotted, 5-toothed with teeth equal, triangular and bear minute, soft hairs on margins. The corolla is tubular, minutely hairy on upper parts and 4-lobed, with ovate lobes. There are 4 stamens in the throat and the stigma tapers. Nutlets are ovoid, 3-ribbed, acute at apex and smooth.

Origin: South-east Asia (Cambodia, southern China, Indonesia (except Lesser Sunda Islands), Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam), Papua New Guinea.

Distribution: South-east Asia, Papua New Guinea.

Habitat: Sunny, permanently or periodically wet sites, grassy wastelands; from 0-2000 metres altitude. Can form dense infestations in moist, disturbed sites.

Propagation and dispersal: Seed. It is likely that seeds are water dispersed.

Economic importance: A weed of upland rice fields, minor importance. Used for stomach ailments of children.

References:

Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), GBIF Data Portal, http://data.gbif.org/welcome.htm accessed 15 October, 2007.

Huang, T.C. (Editor-in-chief) 1998, Flora of Taiwan Vol 4. Department of Botany, National Taiwan University, Taiwan. p 314.

Soerjani, M., Kostermans, A.J.H.G. and G. Tjitrosoepomo (1987). Weeds of Rice in Indonesia. BIOTROP, Bogor, Indonesia.

NAQS Weeds Target List 121 Falcataria moluccana (Miq.) Barneby & J. W. Grimes

Batai, bataiwood

Synonyms: Albizia falcataria (L.) Fosberg Paraserianthes falcataria (L.) I.C. Nielsen Albizia falcata (L.) Backer Albizia moluccana Riq.

Family: Fabaceae

Description: Tall deciduous trees to 30 - 40 metres in height, 1 metre in diameter. Bark is white, grey or greenish, smooth or slightly warty with young parts densely reddish brown tomentose or puberulent. Leaves alternate, bipinnate, 23-30 centimetres long, pubescent. The pinnae are 5-10 centimetres long, each with 30-40 paired leaflets, sessile, obliquely oblong, falcate, 6-20 millimetres long, 3-6 millimetres wide. Flowers in panicles about 20 centimetres in diameter, the numerous flowers sessile, white and 10-12 millimetres long. The calyx is 1-1.5 millimetres long, 5-toothed, silky pubescent. Corolla is cream or greenish yellow in colour, 3-6 millimetres long. Stamens are filiform and more than 12 millimetres long. Pods are 9-13 centimetres long, 2 centimetres wide, flat, acute, green turning brown, papyraceous and dehiscent. Seeds are 15-20 per pod, 5-7 millimetres long, 2.5-3.5 millimetres wide, laterally flattened.

Origin: Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands.

Distribution: Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Pacific (American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Hawaii, New Caledonia, Nuie, Palau, Samoa, Tonga, Wallis and Futuna Islands), Indian Ocean (La Reunion Island, Mauritius, Seychelles), south-east Asia from Myanmar to the Phillipines, and introduced locally in tropical Africa and America.

Habitat: The trees thrive on many soils including alluvial soils, laterites, sandy mining soil and white sands. Ranges from subtropical moist to wet to tropical moist to wet climate zones, tolerating an annual precipitation of 2000 to 4500 millimetres and annual temperatures of 20 to 28oC.

Propagation and dispersal: The tree is originally dispersed long distances via humans who plant the tree for landscaping, forestry, or other purposes. From there, the tree’s prolific seed production allows it to spread to nearby forests, pastures and open areas. Seed pods are lightweight and spread on the wind.

Rate of spread: Can rapidly spread in areas below 305 metres elevation with an annual rainfall between 2032-3810 millimetres. Growth rates are rapid with as much as 4.5 metres in a year.

Economic importance: Rapid growing, the tree is considered a cash crop in the Philippines. It has been used for ornament and reforestation. The soft wood is used for tea boxes, matches, packing cases, lightweight pallets and paper. It has also been used as a shade tree for coffee and tea plantations. A problem plant in Hawaii.

References:

NAQS Weeds Target List 122 NewCROP 1997, Albizia falcataria, Purdue University, Center for New Crops & Plant Products, http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/Albizia_falcataria.html, accessed 2 January 2007.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Falcataria molucanna, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry. http://www.hear.org/Pier/species/falcataria_moluccana.htm, accessed 2 January 2007.

Starr, F., Starr, K. and Loope, L. 2003, Plants of Hawai’i: Falcataria moluccana. United States Geological Survey – Biological Resources Division, http://www.hear.org/starr/hiplants/reports/html/falcataria_moluccana.htm, accessed 2 January 2006.

NAQS Weeds Target List 123 Pithecellobium dulce (Roxb.) Benth.

Madras thorn

Synonyms: Mimosa dulcis Roxb.

Description: Deciduous tree up to 10 metres tall with a spiny trunk. Leaves are bipinnate and each pinna has a single pair of leaflets. Leaflets are asymmetric, ovate to oblong, mostly a little over 2 centimetres long though can be up to 4 centimetres long. Flowers are greenish-white in colour, fragrant, sessile in dense heads. The calyx is grey in colour and finely pubescent. The stigma is minute and capitate. The pod is irregularly swollen and twisted strongly. It is up to 12 centimetres long but because of coiling is seemingly shorter. The pod has an inner sweetish white edible pulp (the funicules) and usually has 6-8 black seeds.

Origin: Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua), South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela), USA (southern California).

Distribution: Central and South America, USA, south-east Asia (Cambodia, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Thailand, Vietnam), Pacific Islands (Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Hawaii, Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau), Indian Ocean (Christmas Island, La Reunion, Mauritius, Seychelles), Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Sudan, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea.

Habitat: The tree is drought tolerant and can grow on poor soils in dry climates, and along coastlines, including areas where its roots are in brackish or salt water.

Propagation and dispersal: Propagation is by seed or cuttings, with germination taking place in one to two days.

Economic importance: It is an attractive tree that has been planted in many tropical areas as an ornamental. It has also been cultivated for timber. In several countries, it has repeatedly escaped from cultivation to become a destructive pest and unwanted weed. Once established, the tree self-seeds with seedlings forming dense thickets that can infest pastures and successfully out-compete desirable species, including native vegetation. This species is a declared noxious weed in Queensland and is prohibited in Western Australia.

References:

Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) 2003, Year in Review: National Australian Quarantine Strategy 2002/03, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra.

Department of Natural Resources and Mines 2005, Warning: Madras thorn Pithecellobium dulce, Queensland Government,

NAQS Weeds Target List 124 http://www.nrw.qld.gov.au/pests/weeds/declared_plants/pdf/madras_thorn_warn.pdf, accessed 30 October 2007.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Pithecellobium dulce. Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/Pier/species/pithecellobium_dulce.htm, accessed 8 January 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 125 Rhodomyrtus tomentosa (Aiton) Hassk.

Ceylon hill gooseberry, Downy myrtle, Downy rose myrtle, Isenberg bush, Rhodomyrtus, Rose myrtle

Synonyms: Myrtus tomentosa Aiton Rhodomyrtus parviflora Alston

Family: Myrtaceae

Description: Large shrub or small tree to 3 metres tall, the larger stems and branches with yellowish, fissured, loose bark. Leaves are opposite, elliptic to ovate, 5-8 centimetres long, 3-veined from base, densely hairy when young but hairless when mature. Inflorescence is axillary, corymbose, subtended by a pair of basal bracts, comprising 1-3 flowers. Flowers are 2-3 centimetres in diameter and white to pink in colour. Fruit is fleshy, edible, 3-locular, to 1.5 centimetres wide. Seeds are numerous, small and triangular.

Origin: South and south-east Asia (Cambodia, China, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam).

Distribution: Asia, Pacific (French Polynesia, Hawaii), USA (Florida).

Habitat: Thrives in environments where annual rainfall exceeds 1200mm. Moist and wet forests, bog margins, up to 2400 metres elevation. Grows in a wide range of soil types, including salty coastal soil, but is sensitive to heavy salt spray.

Propagation and dispersal: A prolific seeder. Seeds thought to be dispersed by birds and humans.

Economic importance: A principle weed in Malaysia and Hawaii. A weed of pasture, rangeland and untended areas. Forms impenetrable thickets. Considered to be a serious environmental weed in the USA where it invades the understorey of native pine forests. Declared noxious weed in Florida and Hawaii. Fruit is edible and used to make jams. Present in cultivation in Queensland. Wild populations should be reported. This species is declared noxious in the Northern Territory.

References:

Wu, Z. Y., P. H. Raven & D. Y. Hong, eds. 2007, Flora of China. Vol. 13 (Clusiaceae through Araliaceae), Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis, p331.

ISSG 2005, Rhodomyrtus tomentose, Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=212&fr=1&sts, accessed 9 November 2007.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2007, Rhodomyrtus tomentosa, Institute of Pacific Island Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/rhodomyrtus_tomentosa.htm, accessed 1 November 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 126 USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN). National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?31664, accessed 1 November 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 127 Ligustrum robustum (L.) Benth.

Ceylon privet, Sri Lankan privet, tree privet

Synonyms: Ligustrum ceylanicum Decne. Ligustrum neilgherrence Decne. Ligustrum walkeri Decne.

Family: Oleaceae

Description: A deciduous shrub or small tree up to 10 metres in height. Branchlets are terete, sparsely puberulent and conspicuously white-speckled. The leaves are ovate to lanceolate in shape, 4-11 centimetres in length, 2-4 centimetres wide, glabrous, and apex is long acuminate. Flower inflorescences are compound, produced on terminal panicles and are 5-15 centimetres long. The calyx is 1 millimetre, minutely hirsuite or glabrescent, while the corolla is 4-5 millimetres. The tree produces drupe fruits (one-seeded, fleshy fruit with a seed enclosed in a stony wall), which are bluish- purple when ripe.

There are several subspecies including L. robustum subsp. robustum, L. robustum subsp. walkeri and L. robustum subsp. chinense.

Origin: South and south-east Asia (Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, India, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam).

Distribution: Asia, USA, Mauritius, La Reunion Island.

Habitat: Agricultural areas, disturbed, areas, natural forests, planted forests, riparian zines, scrub/shrublands, urban areas. Occurs in montane and submontane regions up to 2000 metres elevation.

Propagation and dispersal: The fruit is ingested and the seed is distributed by birds (including the Indian Myna), monkeys, pigs and deer. The species is easily propagated from cuttings and grows sprouts readily from root and stump remains.

Rate of spread: Extremely aggressive and prolific seed producers. The species has invaded all the Mauritian forests (about 57000 ha) in less than fifty years.

Economic importance: One of the worst pest plants of Mauritian wet forests, the species is a major threat to native ecosystems. Its ability to form dense, impenetrable monospecific stands leads to the crowding out of desirable plants and reduces biodiversity. The privet is estimated to represent 10% and 72% respectively of the total adult and seedling individuals in the native Mauritian remnants, with no part of the Mauritius uplands (secondary or native vegetation) is free of the species. The characteristics of the plant that contribute to its invasiveness include its rapid growth rate, ability to tolerate high shade conditions, its high seedling recruitment and its dependence on birds to distribute seeds.

This species has been nominated as among 100 of the "World's Worst" invaders.

Three other species of Ligustrum have become naturalised in Australia, with L. sinense and L. lucidium both posing threats to native vegetation; these species are declared noxious weeds in New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory and are prohibited species in Western Australia.

Flora of China Editorial Committee, eds. 1996, Flora of China. Vol. 15 (Myrsinaceae through Loganiaceae), Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis. 387 pp.

ISSG 2006, Ecology of Ligustrum robustum, Invasive Species Specialist Group http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=90&fr=1&sts=, accessed 5 February 2007.

Lavergne, C., Rameau, J. and Figier, J. 1999, ‘The invasive woody weed Ligustrum robustum subsp. walkeri threatens native forests on La Reunion’, Biological Invasions 1: 377-392.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Ligustrum robustum, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/Pier/species/ligustrum_robustum.htm, accessed 5 February 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 129 Coix lacryma-jobi L.

Job’s tears, Adlay, Adlay millet

Synonyms: Coix ma-yuen Rom. Caill. Coix stenocarpa Balansa

Family: Poaceae

Description: Robust annuals with culms 100-300 centimetres tall, many-branched. Sheaths are loose, terete, striate, glabrous; blades are 10-50 centimetres long, 20-50 centimetres wide, glabrous but rather coarse. Inflorescences are numerous, terminal and axillary, each consisting of separate pistillate and staminate racemes, cupules borne on long stout peduncles from axis of upper leaves, white or bluish, bony, lustrous, globose- ovoid, 5-15 millimetres long. Caryopsis broadly ellipsoid to subglobose, 2.5-5 millimetres long.

Origin: South and south-east Asia (Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam).

Distribution: South and south-east Asia, Africa (Congo, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan), southern Europe (Italy), Caribbean (Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico), central America (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico), South America (Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela), southeast USA, Pacific (American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Galapagos Islands, Guam, Hawaii, New Caledonia, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu).

Habitat: Occurs in damp places, along the edges of streams, wetlands, wetland crops and ditches.

Propagation and dispersal: Seed. Dispersal method unknown.

Economic importance: Listed as a serious weed in Polynesia, a principle weed in Italy and Korea, a common weed in Hawaii, Federated States of Micronesia, and Puerto Rico. Another species in this genus, Coix aquatica, is a declared noxious weed in the Northern Territory.

References:

Clayton, W.D., Harman, K.T. and Williamson, H. 2006, GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora, http://www.kew.org/data/grasses-db.html, accessed 09 November 2007.

Duke J. 1983, Handbook of Energy Crops, http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/Coix_lacryma-jobi.html, accessed 1 November 2007.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Coix lacryma-jobi, Institute of Pacific Island Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/coix_lacryma-jobi.htm, accessed 1 November 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 130 USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN). National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?11129, accessed 1 June 2006.

NAQS Weeds Target List 131 Digitaria fuscescens (J. Presl ex C. Presl) Henr.

Y grass

Synonyms: Paspalum fuscescens J. Presl ex C. Presl Syntherisma fuscescens (J. Presl ex C. Presl) Scribn. Digitaria pseudoischaeum Miq.

Family: Poaceae

Description: Perennial, stoloniferous, creeping grass 15-40 centimetres tall, rooting and hairy at the nodes, mat-forming. Leaves are alternate, hairless except for a few hairs in the collar region and sheaths of lower leaves; sheath 1.5-5 centimetres long; ligule membranous 0.5-2 millimetres long; leaf blade ovate-linear-lanceolate, 1-5 (-11) – 2-4 millimetres, commonly with a purplish margin. Inflorescence terminal, of 2 or 3 slender, digitately arranged racemes, 5-7 centimetres long, raceme axis flattened, commonly minutely serrated, keeled. Spikelets glabrous, 1.3-1.6mm long, on unequal pedicels, arranged in threes on alternate sides of the keel. Caryopsis is brown. Note: This species can be confused with D. longiflora which occurs in Australia. The glabrous spikelets and protruding fertile floret distinguish D. fuscescens.

Origin: South and south-east Asia (Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam).

Distribution: South and south-east Asia, southern and tropical Africa, central and northern South America, Pacific (Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Hawaii, Palau, Philippines, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna), Papua New Guinea.

Habitat: Pioneer of sandy or rocky soils in humid areas; forests, dunes, cultivated areas, disturbed sites, roadsides; 0-970 metres in altitude.

Propagation and dispersal: Seeds dispersed by water and birds. Vegetative propagation from stolon fragments.

Economic importance: Weed of perennial crops, rice, vegetables and disturbed areas. A principle weed in Malaysia; noxious in Indonesia.

References:

Clayton, W.D., Harman, K.T. and Williamson, H. 2006, GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora, http://www.kew.org/data/grasses-db.html, accessed 09 November 2007.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Digitaria fuscescensi, Institute of Pacific Island Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/digitaria_fuscescens.htm, accessed 1 November 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 132 Waterhouse, B.M. and Mitchell, A.A. 1998, Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy Weeds Target List, AQIS Miscellaneous Publication no. 6/9: Canberra.

NAQS Weeds Target List 133 Digitaria horizontalis Willd.

Jamaican crabgrass

Synonyms: Milium digitatum Sw. Syntherisma digitata (Sw.) Hitchc.

Family: Poaceae

Description: Digitaria horizontalis is an annual grass with decumbent, spreading, branching, stoloniferous culm bases and erect floriferous shoots mostly 30-50 centimetres tall. The leaf sheaths are hispid or pilose with long, spreading hairs. The leaf blades are thin, flat, 2-20 centimetres long, 5-15 millimetres broad and finely pilose on one or both surfaces. Panicles with 5-15 slender, unbranched primary branches and at least the lower ones in groups of 3-6. The spikelets are appressed, in pairs and 2-2.5 millimetres long. The first glume is usually absent and the second glume is about half as long as a spikelet and is pilose on the margins and tip. The lemma of the lower floret with 5 equidistant nerves, with a few soft hairs on the margins. The fruit is a caryopsis (grain), around 0.5 millimetre in size.

Origin: Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama) and South America (Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela).

Distribution: Central and South America, Pacific (American Samoa, Galapagos Islands, Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga), Mauritius.

Habitat: A common weed of fields and waste places in the tropics of the world, tolerates arid conditions.

Economic importance: This plant has been found in ballast dumps in Alabama, USA. Two other species in this genus, D. insularis and D. sarmentosa are declared noxious in the Northern Territory.

References:

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2003, Digitaria horizontalis, Institute of Pacific Island Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/digitaria_horizontalis.htm, accessed 10 July 2006.

NAQS Weeds Target List 134 Wipff, J.K. 2002, Utah State University Intermountain Herbarium treatments – Digitaria http://herbarium.usu.edu/treatments/Digitaria.htm accessed 17 October 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 135 Echinochloa stagnina (Retz.) P. Beauv.

Barnyard grass, Burgu grass, Hippo grass, Long awn water grass

Synonyms: Panicum stagninum Retz. Panicum crus-galli (non Beauv.) Hook. f.

Family: Poaceae.

Description: Robust perennial, aquatic grass which floats in deep water or creeps with rhizomes and stolons, to 2 metres long (reported up to 8 metres long); readily roots and sprouts at nodes. Stems terete, pith-filled, buoyant. Leaf sheaths to 15 centimetres long; ligule a dense fringe of hairs 1.25-3 millimetres long; blades linear, acuminate, 6-45 centimetres long and 5-15 millimetres wide with a rough margin and broad pale midrib. Inflorescence a terminal panicle to 25 centimetres long, comprising 5- 30 pseudospikes turned to one side, on a main axis 5-30 centimetres long. Spikelets in pairs.

Note: E. kimberleynesis and E. praestans are similar species which both occur in Australia.

Origin: Africa (Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zaire, Zimbabwe).

Distribution: Africa, south and south-east Asia (Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam), Pacific (Fiji, Hawaii, Samoa, Solomon Islands), Papua New Guinea.

Habitat: Swamps, river banks, rice paddies, dams, and moist disturbed sites. Major constituent of floating swap vegetation in Papua New Guinea.

Propagation and dispersal: Seeds and stem fragments dispersed by water and birds.

Economic importance: A serious weed in Sri Lanka. Weed of rice and waterways. A potentially ‘desirable’ ponded pasture grass; authorities should be wary of attempts to introduce this species deliberately.

References:

Clayton, W.D., Harman, K.T. and Williamson, H. 2007, Eragrostis japonica, GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora, http://www.kew.org/data/grasses-db.html, accessed 2 November 2007.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Echinochloa stagnina, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/echinochloa_stagnina.htm , accessed 2 November 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 137 Eragrostis ciliaris (L.) R.Br.

Gophertail, gophertail lovegrass, woolly love grass

Synonyms: Poa ciliaris L. Eragrostis pulchella Parl

Family: Poaceae

Description: A slender annual, 10-70 centimetres tall with culms terete, simple and erect. Leaf blades are 2-12 centimetres long and 3-5 millimetres wide, flat, pilose on the upper surface and scaberulous. The flower panicle is 1-20 centimetres long, spiciform and purple in colour. The spikelets are usually 1.5-2 millimetres long, distinctly compressed laterally, with usually 5-9 loosely imbricate florets which diminish at the apex. The glumes are subequal, strongly 1-nerved, narrow lanceolate, mostly smooth. The lower glume is slightly shorter; approximately 1 millimetre in length. The lemmas are 0.8-1.5 millimetres long, membranous, narrow-oblong, obtuse, strongly 3-nerved with the lateral nerves submarginal. The palea is as long as the lemma, narrow-oblong, subobtuse, ciliate on the keels with stiff white capillary bulbous-based hairs 0.5-1 millimetres long. The caryopsis fruit is ellipsoid, wrinkled on the surface and 0.3-0.5 millimetres in length.

Origin: Africa (Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cote D'Ivoire, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe), Middle East (Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen), Asia (Cambodia, India, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam), Central America and Caribbean (Mexico, Nicaragua, Bahamas, Cuba).

Distribution: Africa, Middle East, Asia, Central America, Caribbean and Pacific (Guam, Hawaii, Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau).

Habitat: Dry places, found along rocky or sandy shores and in open ground.

Economic importance: E. ciliaris is the host of root-knot nematode in Pakistan. E. curvula is a declared noxious weed in the Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania, South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria.

References:

Ali, S.I. and Qaiser, M. (eds.) 1982, Flora of Pakistan, Vol 143, University of Karachi and Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis.

Clayton, W.D., Harman, K.T. and Williamson, H. 2006, GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora , http://www.kew.org/data/grasses-db.html, accessed 25 January 2007.

Flora of China Editorial Committee (eds.) 2006, Flora of China. Vol. 22 (Poaceae), Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

NAQS Weeds Target List 138 Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Eragrostis ciliaris. Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/Pier/species/eragrostis_ciliaris.htm, accessed 25 January 2007.

Zarina, B. 2002, ‘New host records of root-knot nematode in Pakistan’, Pakistan Journal of Nematology 20: 77.

NAQS Weeds Target List 139 Eriochloa polystachya Kunth

Carib grass; Caribbean cup grass

Synonyms: Eriochloa subglabra (Nash) Hitchc. Monachne subglabra Nash

Family: Poaceae

Description: Aquatic perennial, creeping grass 5-150 centimetres tall. Stems are terete or slightly compressed with a central air cavity. Leaf sheaths are ribbed, apically keeled; nodes densely and finely hairy; ligule a fringe of hairs; leaf blade linear, 6-25 centimetres long and 6-15 millimetres wide, flat, with an acute apex and scabrous margins. Inflorescence an erect terminal panicle, 12-24 cm long, with 6-15 pseudo-spikes. Lower pseudo-spikes 6-15 centimetres long, shortening upwards to 2.5-4 centimetres long. Spikelets hairy, 2-3.8 millimetres long, with a marked basal swelling; flowers 1 or 2; spikelets shed as a whole when mature.

Origin: Caribbean (Cuba, Guadaloupe, Jamaica, Puerto Rico), central America (Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico) and South America (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guinana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela).

Distribution: Caribbean, central and South America, southern and tropical Africa, Asia (India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam).

Habitat: Swamps, deep-water rice fields, river banks, drains and ditches on heavy soils. Tolerates strong to medium dry seasons. Rear of coastal dunes to 500 metres altitude.

Propagation and dispersal: Seeds (where produced) and vegetative fragments dispersed by water.

Economic importance: A serious weed in Mexico. Also a potential seed contaminant. Noxious in deeply inundated rice fields where dense growth suppresses other vegetation. A potentially ‘desirable’ ponded pasture grass; authorities should be wary of attempts to introduce this species deliberately.

References:

Clayton, W.D., Harman, K.T. and Williamson, H. 2006, GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora, http://www.kew.org/data/grasses-db.html, accessed 25 January 2007.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Eriochloa polystacha, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://hear.org/pier/species/eriochloa_polystachya.htm, accessed 2 November 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 140 Ischaemum timorense Kunth

Centipede grass; Lacuntu grass; Lucuntu grass; Stalkleaf murainagrass; Waidoi grass

Synonyms: Andropogon timorensis (Kunth) Steud. Ischaemum macrurum Stapf ex Ridley

Family: Poaceae

Description: Annual or perennial grass with ascending or erect stems 15-100 centimetres long, creeping from the base; nodes with a whorl of long white hairs; roots developing at lower nodes. Leaf sheaths hairy at mouth, glabrous or hairy elsewhere; ligule 2 millimetres long, fringed with fine hairs; leaf blades 2- 16 centimetres. Inflorescence of paired terminal spikes 2-8 centimetres long, with a sessile and stalked spikelet at each node along axis, separated by an orbicular cavity. Sessile spikelet 4-6 millimetres long; pedicellate spikelet 5-8mm long on a hairy stalk 3-3.5 millimetres long; sessile and pedicellate spikelets two-flowered and awned. Caryopsis is ellipsoidal, 1.3-1.6 millimetres long, amber coloured.

Origin: South and south-east Asia (Cambodia, Chinese Taipei, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam), Papua New Guinea.

Distribution: South and south-east Asia, Papua New Guinea, central America (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama), South America (Brazil, Ecuador, French Guiana, Suriname), Fiji.

Habitat: Roadsides, forest margins, heavy and light soils, rain-fed and upland rice paddies. Prefers sites that are neither too wet nor too dry. Lowlands to 2000 metres altitude.

Propagation and dispersal: Seed reported to be wind dispersed. Vegetative propagation from stem fragments broken during cultivation.

Economic importance: A principle weeds of Malaysia. Weed of cropping and plantations. Potential seed contaminant.

References:

Clayton, W.D., Harman, K.T. and Williamson, H. 2006, GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora, http://www.kew.org/data/grasses-db.html, accessed 25 January 2007.

Cook, B.G., Pengelly, B.C., Brown, S.D., Donnelly, J.L., Eagles, D.A., Franco, M.A., Hanson, J., Mullen, B.F., Partridge, I.J., Peters, M. and Schultze-Kraft, R. 2005, Tropical Forages: an interactive selection tool, [CD-ROM], CSIRO, DPI&F(Qld), CIAT and ILRI, Brisbane, Australia.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Ischaemum timorense, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/ischaemum_timorense.htm, accessed 2 November 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 142 Zizania latifolia (Griseb.) Turcz. Ex Stapf

Manchurian wildrice, Asiatic wildrice, water bamboo

Synonyms: Z. aquatica L. Hydropyrum latifolium Griseb.

Family: Poaceae

Description: A perennial aquatic grass, to 4 metres tall, with spreading rhizomes. The leaves are tall and upright, rooting at the lower nodes, which are glabrous. The broadly linear leaf blades are 2-3 centimetres wide and up to 2.5 metres long with a stout midrib. The flower head is a panicle, 40-60 centimetres long and 10-15 centimetres wide; purple to red-brown in colour. The lower branches of the panicle have male spikelets, and the upper branches carry female spikelets, with the middle branches mixed. The fruit is a caryopsis grain type, about 1 centimetre in size.

Origin: East Asia (China, Chinese Taipei, India (north-east), Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Russia, Vietnam).

Distribution: Asia, Hawaii, New Zealand, United Kingdom.

Habitat: Shallow water of coastland, estuaries, lakes, marine habitats, riparian zones, water courses, wetlands, pastures.

Propagation and dispersal: Spreads by seed or rhizomes, which can penetrate into and destroy levees.

Rate of spread: Unknown. Grows into large patches at infestation sites.

Economic importance: This species could seriously affect the use of farmland and freshwater estuarine ecosystems around Auckland in New Zealand. It is cultivated as a vegetable in South East Asia. Apparently only a serious weed in temperate areas.

References:

National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) and Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) 2007, Zizania latifolia, ISSG Global Invasive Species Database, Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG), http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=866&fr=1&sts= accessed 18 October, 2007.

Wu, Z.Y. and Raven, P.H., eds. 1994, Flora of China. Vol. 22 (Poaceae), Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

NAQS Weeds Target List 143 Urochloa glumaris (Trin.) Veldkamp

Common signalgrass; Thurston grass

Synonyms: Brachiaria paspaloides (J. Presl) C. E. Hubb. Panicum glumare Trin. (basionym) Urochloa paspaloides J. Presl

Family: Poaceae

Description: Perennial, much branch, creeping grass with stems that root at lower nodes. Stems to 75 centimetres high, hairless, slender, hard, sometimes with a narrow central cavity. Leaf blades 5-30 centimetres, with scabrid margins, commonly purplish and finely covered in bulbous-based hairs; leaf sheaths 4-5 centimetres long, keeled, covered with bulbous-based hairs; ligule a membranous ridge of hairs. Main axis of inflorescence 4-13 centimetres long, with 2 to 5 erect or spreading, one-sided racemes, 1.5-8 centimetres long. Spikelets usually in pairs, one sessile, the other pedicillate; green or purplish, compressed, to 4 millimetres long. Caryopsis compressed, ovoid.

Origin: South and south-east Asia (China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand), Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Palau.

Distribution: South and south-east Asia, Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Pacific (American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, New Caledonia, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga), Indian Ocean (Mauritius).

Habitat: In moist, sunny or shaded situations in lawns, plantations, upland rice, riverbanks and roadsides.

Propagation and dispersal: Seeds and root fragments dispersed externally by animals.

Economic importance: A serious weed in Borneo and Malaysia. Widespread in Indonesia. A weed of coffee, tea and rice plantations, and orchards. Sometimes cultivated as a fodder.

References:

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Urochloa glumaris, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/urochloa_glumaris.htm, accessed 2 November 2007.

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2006, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) . National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?431354, accessed 2 November 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 144 Maesopsis eminii Engl.

Umbrella tree, musizi

Synonyms: Maesopsis berchemoides (Pierre) Engl.

Family: Rhamnaceae

Description: Semi-deciduous tree, up to 45 metres tall with clear bole to about two-thirds of the height. Bark normally pale grey, deeply fissured, inner bark deep red. Leaves are 6- 15 centimetres long with serrate margin and alternate for the first leaves of all branches, then they become sub-opposite. Inflorescence a many-flowered, axillary cyme, 1-5 centimetres long. Flowers are small, bisexual, with 5 yellow-white petals. The fruit is an obovoid drupe, 20-35 millimeters long, green at first later turning yellow and finally purple or black at maturity. Under the exocarp is the spongy mesocarp and innermost the stony endocarp surrounding the seed. Each fruit contains 1-2 seeds with dark seedcoat.

Origin: Africa (Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Cot D’Ivoire, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia).

Distribution: Africa, Pacific (Fiji, Hawaii, Solomon Islands), Indonesia, India, Puerto Rico.

Habitat: It is found in the lowlands and submontane forests up to 1800 metres altitude. In plantations it grows best at altitudes between 600 to 900 metres. Prefers mean annual rainfall of 1200-3600 millimetres and tolerates a dry season of up to 4 months. Prefers deep, well-drained soils but can grow on light soils if there is sufficient water. It is an early succession species, adept at colonising disturbed areas in forests.

Propagation and dispersal: Seed spread by fruit-eating birds. Coppices freely after being cut.

Economic importance: Introduced as a plantation timber for indoor construction, boxes and poles as well as for fuelwood. It is used as a shade tree for cocoa, coffee, cardamom and tea, as well as for erosion control. It is an aggressive coloniser of grasslands and disturbed areas within forests. It is invasive in the rainforests of the East Usambaras, Tanzania, and in Rwanda, India and Puerto Rico.

References:

Buchholz, T. 2003, ‘Silvicultural potential of Maesopsis eminii in Uganda - a study on tree quality’, Indicators and Tools for Restoration and Sustainable Management of Forests in East Africa, I-TOO working paper No. 12, http://www.waldbau.uni-freiburg.de/ITOO/I-TOO- files/WP/I-TOO%20WP12.pdf, accessed 1 November 2007.

Joker, D. 2000, ‘Maesopsis eminii Engl.’ Seed Leaflet 48.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Maesopsis eminii, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/Pier/species/maesopsis_eminii.htm, accessed 2 January 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 145 Visteensaari, J., Johansson, S., Kaarakka, V. and Luukanen, O. (2000). Is the alien tree species Maesopsis eminii Engl. (Rhamnaceae) a threat to tropical forest conservation in East Usambaras, Tanzania. Environmental Conservation 27 (1):76-81

NAQS Weeds Target List 146 Diodia sarmentose Sw.

Tropical buttonweed.

Synonyms: Diodia breviseta Benth. Diodia pilosa Schumach. & Thonn. Spermacoce pilosa (Schumach. & Thonn.) DC

Family: Rubiaceae

Description: Scrambling herb with a tap root. Stems 1-4 metres long, often with numerous lateral branches, square in cross-section and with long hairs on the angles. Leaves yellowish-green, lanceolate, 1.8-6.3 - 0.7-2.8 centimetres; leaf blade scabrous above with dense tubercular hairs, smooth below; petiole 1-5 millimetres long. Flowers 1- 8 in axillary clusters at most nodes, each flower 1.5-3 millimetres long with 4 mauve or white petals. Seeds are dark blackish red, 2-4 millimetres long, 1.5 millimetres wide and 0.8 millimetres thick.

Origin: Caribbean (Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico), central America (Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama), northern South America (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela), tropical Africa (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe).

Distribution: Caribbean, central and South America, tropical Africa, Indonesia.

Habitat: A strand plant, often near high water mark; grassland and bushland at low altitudes, and a weed of cultivation.

Economic importance: An important weed in Africa and Asia. A weed of coffee, tea and leucaena plantations in Indonesia.

References:

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Diodia sarmentosa, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://hear.org/pier/species/diodia_sarmentosa.htm, accessed 2 November 2007.

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2007, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) . National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/tax_search.pl?Diodia%20sarmentosa, accessed 2 November 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 147 Salvinia natans (L.) All

Floating watermoss

Synonyms: Marselia natans L.

Description: A floating fern with hairy stems. The upper most (floating) leaves are longer than broad; 9-13 millimetres long and 5-7 millimetres wide and entire at the apex. The leaves are arranged in regular rows and lie flat on the water surface. There are small bumps (papillae) arranged in regular rows on the leaf surface, with a tuft of hairs not joined at their tips. The sporocarps (fruiting bodies) are globose, whitish-yellow in colour, in groups of 2-8 together on submerged, root-like leaves.

Origin: Northern Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Zimbabwe), Asia (Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, China, Chinese Taipei, Cyprus, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Lebanon, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Thailand, Turkey), Europe(Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Moldova, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Ukraine, Yugoslavia).

Distribution: Northern Africa, Asia, Europe, Honduras, USA (New York State), New Zealand.

Habitat: Slow moving waterways, irrigated fields, ditches and shallow pools.

Propagation and dispersal: Vegetative fragments and spores dispersed by water. Human activities are also responsible for the spread of plants.

Economic importance: A principal weed in temperate locations including Italy, Japan, Korea, Mauritius and New Zealand. A common weed of rice in Indonesia, as well as waters where phosphate levels have increased due to fertiliser runoff. Harbours the intermediate host (snail) for schistosomiasis in Lake Kariba (Zimbabwe). S. natans has proven to be capable of removing heavy metals such as lead and copper from wastewater.

References:

Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), GBIF Data Portal http://data.gbif.org/welcome.htm accessed 15 October, 2007.

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Salvinia natans, Institute of Pacific Island Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/salvinia_natans.htm, accessed 18 October 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 148 Waterhouse, B.M. and Mitchell, A.A. 1998, Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy Weeds Target List. AQIS Miscellaneous Publication no. 6/9: Canberra.

NAQS Weeds Target List 149 Hybanthus attenuatus (Humb. & Bonpl.) Schulze-Menz

Greenviolet

Synonyms: -

Family: Violaceae

Description: Erect annual herb to 50 centimetres tall, sometimes much-branched. Stems hollow, with 2 or 3 longitudinal rows of hairs. Leaves alternate, shortly petiolate; blade ovate to oblong. Flowers zygomorphic, solitary in leaf axils; peduncle 2 centimetres long. Sepals 5, subequal, 2-4 millimetres long. Petals 5, unequal; upper petals white, 2.5-3.5 millimetres long; lateral petals 4-4.5 millimetres long, purple-striped; lower petal white, oval to kidney-shaped, 8-10 millimetres long including a claw 4-5 millimetres long. Fruit a nodding, globular capsule, 4-5 millimetres long, elastically dehiscent. Seeds subglobose with a crater-like top, smooth, black speckled with white.

Origin: Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama) and north- western South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru).

Distribution: Central and South America, Indonesia.

Habitat: Disturbed situations and cultivation.

Propagation and dispersal: Seeds dispersed by water.

Economic importance: Potentially significant weed, can be locally dominant and is fast growing. A weed of a wide range of annual crops, including rice.

References:

Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) 2006, Hybanthus attenuatus, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, http://www.hear.org/pier/species/hybanthus_attenuatus.htm, accessed 2 November 2007.

USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2007, Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN). National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/tax_search.pl?Hybanthus%20attenuatus, accessed 2 November 2007.

NAQS Weeds Target List 150 Appendix A Key to Shortlisting Spreadsheet (see accompanying spreadsheet; ‘naqs_weeds_review_07.XLS’)

Worksheet name Method

Naqsv4.tab (original list – RR) Query conditions – A weed in the NAQS region

Sorted by no. refs List sorted on number of references to that species in Rod Randall’s database

State_lists State declared weeds lists consulted for species/genera on NAQS lists that are declared taxonomy Taxonomically complicated, or species that are present in Australia under a different name noted and in some cases removed from the list exclude_old_list Three species from the previous NAQS list that can be removed to check Species remaining after removal of species not in the NAQS region or that are in Australia (see ‘in Aus – BW AM comments’ 217 species) as indicated from initial consultation with NAQS officers

Weedy families Families with invasive species according to various references

Weedy families (consolidated) Families with invasive species according to various references consolidated to one list with additions from consultation with NAQS genera All species listed more than once, or genera that were listed on the original list – some removed as they can be mentioned as genera

1-ref_RR’s list All species that have only one reference from Rod Randall’s database in Aus - BW AM comments taxonomically complicated species and those known to be present in Australia, or not in the NAQS region removed

2-refs & up_RR-CAB_enviro Species with two or more references according to Rod Randall’s database, with CAB search results – this worksheet has a legend to the colour coding at the bottom draft_list_AVH_check Species with 5 or more references as a weed from cab search results, checked for presence in Australia via the Australian Virtual Herbarium draft_list_AVH_edited Same list as previous worksheet, with comments from 15th weeds conference meeting with NAQS officers draft_list_AVH_edited (2) Same list as previous worksheet, with comments from Alex Roberts and Andrew Mitchell and results from cross-checking with permitted seeds and permitted species lists

NAQS weed list final 060707 - final list

NAQS Weeds Target List 151 References

Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) 2007, Map of NAQS Zones, http://www.daffa.gov.au/aqis/quarantine/naqs/zones, accessed 29 October 2007.

CAB International 2007, CAB Abstracts 1973-2007, http://www.cabi.org/datapage.asp? iDocID=228, accessed 26 October, 2007.

Cronk, Q.C.B. and Fuller, J.L. 2001, ‘Plant invaders: the threat to natural ecosystems’, Conservation Ecology 5: 3.

Duncan, R.P. and Williams, P.A. 2002, ‘Taxonomic patterns in the naturalization rate of plant species in New Zealand’, 13th Australian Weeds Conference: weeds "threats now and forever?", Plant Protection Society of Western Australia Inc, Victoria Park, Australia.

Plant Names Project 2004, International Plant Names Index, http://www.ipni.org/index.html, accessed 26th October 2007.

Meyer, J. Y. and Lavergne, C. 2004, ‘Beautes fatales: Acanthaceae species as invasive alien plants on tropical Indo-Pacific islands’, Diversity and Distributions 10: 333-347.

North Australia Quarantine Strategy (NAQS) 2007, Map of NAQS Zones available from http://www.daff.gov.au/aqis/quarantine/naqs/zones, accessed 18 October 2007.

Randall, R.P. (2006-). Plants Database, Department of Agriculture and Food, Unpublished Data.

Wu, S.H., Hsieh, C.F., Chaw, S.M. and Rejmanek, M. 2004, ‘Plant invasions in Taiwan: insights from the flora of casual and naturalized alien species’, Diversity and Distributions 10: 349-362.

Waterhouse, B.M. 2003, ‘Know your enemy: recent records of potentially serious weeds in northern Australia, Papua New Guinea and Papua (Indonesia)’, Telopea 10.

NAQS Weeds Target List 152