NEW SOUTH WALES Richard J

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Twelfth Australian Weeds Conference

STRATEGIES TO MANAGE NEW WEED INCURSIONS - NEW SOUTH WALES Richard J. Carter1, John R. Hosking2 and Barry J. Conn3 1 NSW Agriculture, Locked Bag 21, Orange, NSW 2800 2 CRC for Weed Management Systems and NSW Agriculture, RMB 944, Tamworth, NSW 2340 3 National Herbarium of New South Wales, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, NSW 2000

Abstract NSW introduced a new weed incursions ers and individuals to collect and submit exotic plants strategy in June 1998. We investigated 46 potential to herbaria. weed incursions in the first year. The majority of the Notification of new incursions To allow rapid re- new reports originated from the WeedAlert system es- sponse to a new weed incursion the responsible agency tablished with the National Herbarium of New South must become aware of it. A key to this is setting up Wales, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney (RBGS). and maintaining a reporting system where herbaria INTRODUCTION notify NSW Agriculture of new incursions upon re- ceipt of a specimen. In 1998 RBGS started an auto- The rate of naturalisation of plants in Australia in- matic notification system called WeedAlert, as part of creased for the 1981–1995 period compared with the PlantNET, the Herbarium’s computerised plant infor- 1971–1980 period and between 1975 and 1995 an av- mation network (Conn et al. 1999). erage of 12 new species naturalised each year in Aus- tralia (Groves et al. 1997). The Australian Quarantine WeedAlert automatically notifies users of new plant Inspection Service (AQIS) assesses all imported plants introductions to NSW, and changes in range within prior to entry to Australia. The biggest potential weed NSW, via changes to the RBGS main collections’ da- problems for New South Wales (NSW) are believed to tabase. It also allows searches at any time. be plants already in Australia. NSW Agriculture established a manual notification The NSW Weeds Strategy outlines procedures to iden- system with Australian National Herbarium in Can- tify and address significant new incursions. NSW Ag- berra (CANB) in 1998. The system however relies on riculture aims to identify new incursions to New South CANB staff keeping NSW Agriculture informed. To Wales while they are establishing. We assess potential date we have no formal arrangements with other her- impact and, if justified, rapidly initiate weed control. baria. Reports from herbaria to NSW Agriculture de- pend on accurate identification of species. This takes The strategy summarised in Figure 1 includes a sys- time when the native range of introduced species is tem to highlight new or potential weeds that may need not known, or leads to misidentification if relying on action, a system to assess risk, a notification system, a current Australian floras. process to develop a plan of action and a process to implement and review the plan. Plants in commercial trade Commercial trade, such as through nurseries, aquaria, herbalists and agricul- NEW INCURSIONS STRATEGY ture distribute plants, some of which are potential System to highlight new or potential weeds The strat- weeds. To address this we have increased inspection egies used include development of high risk target plant of nurseries and other premises by including it as an lists for NSW. This type of list has limitations as out- objective for grants to local weed control authorities. lined by Waterhouse and Mitchell (1998) for the North- An area not yet developed is to study plants being dis- ern Australian Quarantine Strategy weeds target list. tributed and conduct risk assessments of these. However, a list helps direct surveys to look for spe- System to assess weed risk Once we flag a new incur- cific species in high risk areas. The first plants to con- sion, we make an assessment of the risk associated with sider in a target list are weeds already in Australia but it. There are a range of weed risk assessment (WRA) not known to be naturalised in NSW. processes available. These systems, such as that used Encourage collections Relatively few people collect by AQIS (Walton and Ellis 1997), are useful as a quar- weedy species and submit them to herbaria for verifi- antine tool but limited when a plant is already estab- cation and storage of vouchers. The NSW strategy in- lished. It does not take into account economic impact cludes training weed officers, government field work- of the weed or the cost and feasibility of destroying an infestation.

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System to highlight new or “High risk” weed target list prepared Establish notification system Once potential plants which need we detect a new weed incursion and action assess it as a high risk a reporting sys- Search for “high risk” weeds tem needs to be instituted. This system provides management, and for Increase number of people submitting exotic incursions new to Australia, the of- plants to herbaria fice of the Chief Plant Protection Of- ficer and interstate authorities, with Establish herbarium notification systems timely reports. Member States already provide new incursion reports System to assess risk Desktop scan to assess weed risk to the Australian Weeds Committee. State plan A draft plan is developed Field inspection using standard protocol quickly after consulting with stakeholders. Priorities for control of a weed are established based on risk Notification of Office of the Notify if new incursion to Australia assessment, potential range and po- Chief Plant Protection Officer tential impact. The plan may require declaration of Develop State Plan Consult with key stakeholders the plant species before enforced control or entry to private land is allowed NSW Noxious Plan developed using standard format and it will also need resources. A re- Weeds Advisory view process is essential to make sure Committee Priorities set based on risk assessment, that control is being achieved and that Urgent potential range and impact resources are not being wasted.

Minister Declared under Noxious Weeds Act 1993 if The New South Wales new incursion needed to implement plan strategy is progressively being imple- mented. Resources provided to local control authorities as in plan RESULTS AND DISCUSSION State plan implementation and review Monitor, review and report Between June 1998 and June 1999, 46 potential incursions were reported or investigated, 26 were identified Figure 1. Key stages of the New South Wales new weed incursions from new accessions to herbaria (two were misidentifications), ten were identified from literature reports, six were identified by weed officers or NSW Agriculture staff following public enquiries (one NSW Agriculture has adopted a staged approach. The was promoted as a potential crop), two resulted from initial stage is a desktop scan with “weed risk assess- incursions or declaration in other states, one from a ment” type questions. If a plant is established, then we media report and one from the Office of the Chief Plant need to decide the feasibility and costs of control. Protection Officer. Field assessment Field inspections are a valuable tool In Table 1 we include potential new weed incursions to determine the risk of a naturalised plant becoming a investigated under the NSW new weed incursions strat- widespread weed. To improve the quality of field in- egy. We did not further investigate plants such as spections we developed a protocol for field inspection. Thunbergia grandiflora (Roxb. ex Rottler) Roxb., and The protocol for use by field staff ensures they collect Cucumis metuliferus Naudin as they are widely planted maximum information on initial inspection as this aids in NSW and, although weedy, were not new incursions. subsequent monitoring and risk assessment. Senecio pterophorus DC. is already widespread and Rotala rotundifolia (Buch.-Ham. ex Roxb.) Koehne is widespread, widely grown and still being sold so no

647 Twelfth Australian Weeds Conference

Table 1. Possible new weed incursions investigated under the NSW New Weed Incursions Strategy. Genus and species Family Reason for investigation Alstroemeria aurea Graham Alstroemeriaceae RBGS recorda Amaranthus dubius Mart. ex Thell. Amaranthaceae Office of the Chief Plant Protection Officer Anagallis minima (L.) E. H. Krause Primulaceae RBGS recordn Arctium lappa L. Asteraceae NSW Agriculture officer- potential crop Berberis lycium Royle Berberidaceae CANB recordbe Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull. Ericaceae Csurhes and Edwards (1998) Campanula rapunculoides L. Campanulaceae RBGS recordn Campsis × tagliabuana (Vis.) Rehder Bignoniaceae RBGS record Celtis sinensis Pers. Ulmaceae RBGS record Centaurea maculosa Lam. Asteraceae CANB record Centaurea nigra L. Asteraceae NSW Agriculture Officer Cotula turbinata L. Asteraceae RBGS record Cucumis metuliferus Naudin Cucurbitaceae RBGS record Cuphea carthagenensis (Jacq.) Macbride Lythraceae Public concern Cyperus involucratus Rottb. Cyperaceae RBGS recordsn Elephantopus mollis Kunth Asteraceae Harden (1992), Declared in Queensland Epidendrum ibaguense Kunth Orchidaceae RBGS recordn Equisetum hyemale L. Equisetaceae Local Control Authority report Equisetum ramosissimum Desf. Equisetaceae Local Control Authority report Fuchsia magellanica Lam. Onagraceae RBGS recordn Gamochaeta purpurea (L.) Cabrera Asteraceae RBGS recorde Hieracium aurantiacum L. Asteraceae Plants found in nursery report from WA Hygrophila costata Nees (H. brasiliensis Acanthaceae Local control authority, weed in Qld. (Spreng.) Lindau) Hypericum elodes L. Clusiaceae CANB record Hypericum hypericoides (L.) Crantz Clusiaceae RBGS record Hypoestes aristata (Vahl) Sol. ex Roem. Acanthaceae RBGS record & Schult. Linaria nigricans Lange Scrophulariaceae RBGS record n Ludwigia longifolia (DC.) Hara Onagraceae RBGS record Miconia calvescens DC. Melastomataceae Csurhes and Edwards (1998) Mikania species Asteraceae Csurhes and Edwards (1998) Nassella charruana (Arechav.) Barkworth Poaceae Groves et al. (1997) Nassella tenuissima (Trin.) Barkworth Poaceae Local Control Authority report Onopordum nervosum Boiss. Asteraceae Media report. Sold by nursery Passiflora coccinea Aublet Passifloraceae RBGS recordn Paulownia tomentosa (Thunb.) Steud. Scropulariaceae Csurhes and Roberts (1998) Rotala rotundifolia (Buch.-Ham. ex Roxb.) Lythraceae Csurhes and Roberts (1998)n Koehne Sedum album L. Crassulaceae RBGS recordn

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Sedum rupestre L. Cracculaceae RBGS recordn Senecio glastifolius L. f. Asteraceae RBGS record Senecio pterophorus DC. Asteraceae Harden (1992) Silene noctiflora L. Caryophyllaceae RBGS recordn Solanum hispidum Pers. Solanaceae RBGS record Solanum sarrachoides Sendtner Solanceae RBGS recordn Spiraea × billardii Herincq Malaceae RBGS recordn Tamarix ramosissima Ledeb. Tamaricaceae Groves et al. (1997) Thunbergia grandiflora (Roxb. ex Rottler) Acanthaceae Csurhes and Roberts (1998)n Roxb. a Australian National Herbarium, Canberra. b National Herbarium of New South Wales (RBGS) notified by WeedAlert. e Mis-named. n Plant identified by WeedAlert but not investigated further for various reasons, mainly as they are unlikely to be problems or present in NSW for many years. action was taken on these. Others such as Onopordum The PlantNET system relies on rapid identification and nervosum Boiss. and Centaurea nigra L., which we data-basing of newly reported exotic species. Notifi- found in nurseries, were destroyed. Hieracium cation times are being reduced although this has not aurantiacum L. was detected under cultivation in a always been the case. One of the species appearing in nursery. The plant was added to the Noxious Weed list WeedAlert was collected in 1991 and not identified and plants destroyed. until late 1998. However, the transparency of the PlantNET process provides valuable quality control The system also identified Centaurea maculosa Lam., information that will enable Herbarium staff to recog- in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). ACT weeds nise delays sooner, minimising delays in the future. staff are now controlling this incursion, reducing the threat to NSW. Surveys revealed that Cuphea The strategy outlined above is speeding up the proc- carthagenesis (Jacq.) Macbride is a pasture weed, so ess of identifying and addressing new weed incursion NSW Agriculture established herbicide screening tri- in NSW. The success is largely due to the WeedAlert als in 1998. Berberis lycium Royle, was a system. The preferred system of notification of new misidentification of B. aristata DC., similarly exotic plant species is automatic. However, the new Gamochaeta purpurea (L.) Cabrera is likely to be a formal reporting systems are still more rapid and reli- misidentification of another Gamochaeta sp. A sur- able than previous intermittent contacts with herbaria. vey confirmed that the only known infestation of Extension of the WeedAlert system, or similar systems, Elephantopus mollis Kunth, remained despite control to major herbaria in all states would benefit early con- efforts by land-owners. Tamarix ramosissima Ledeb. trol of weeds throughout Australia. This could improve was listed as a new record for NSW by Harden (1993), the speed and reliability of risk assessment by defin- but was not investigated prior to the implementation ing the range of weeds already in Australia, and en- of this strategy. It does not appear to have naturalised sure weeds submitted to all herbaria are known. It is in NSW, however it is naturalised in Victoria (Groves also clear that there is value in developing a target list et al., 1997) in riverine areas and is a potential threat of potential weeds as this allows specific investiga- to watercourses in NSW. tions rather than awaiting for the weed to be sent to a herbarium. NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service is consider- ing action on Senecio glastifolius L. f., a significant REFERENCES weed in New Zealand detected using WeedAlert. Lo- Conn, B.J., Chapple, G.W. and Brooks, A. (1999). cal authorities located and destroyed two species of PlantNET - The Plant Information Network Sys- Equisetum. NSW Agriculture will monitor the infes- tem of Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney (version 1.4) tation of Hypericum elodes L. to determine its impact. (http://plantnet.rbgsyd.gov.au).

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Csurhes, S. and R. Edwards (1998). Potential environ- Walton, C. and Ellis, N. (1997). A manual for using the mental weeds in Australia (Environment Australia, Weed Risk Assessment system (WRA) to assess new Canberra). plants. (AQIS, Canberra). Groves, R.H. et al. (1997). Recent incursions of Weeds Waterhouse, B.M. and Mitchell, A.A. (1998). Northern to Australia 1971–1995. CRC for Weed Manage- Australia quarantine strategy weeds target list. ed. ment Systems Technical Series No.3. A.S. George, 2nd edition, AQIS Miscellaneous Pub- lication No. 6/98. Harden, G.J. (ed) (1990–3) Flora of New South Wales, Vols. 1–4 (NSW Univ Press, Sydney).

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