False Sowthistle (Reichardia tingitana), a fancy, sand- and salt-loving yellow aster from the Mediterranean and Middle East. A plant of coastal dunes and saline deserts … Read the full post
Stinkwort (Dittrichia graveolens)
Stinkwort (Dittrichia graveolens), an autumn-flowering annual aster with an aggressive aroma and Eurasian origin. Although the first Australian collection dates to 1876, Stinkwort was spreading … Read the full post
Cotton Fireweed (Senecio quadridentatus)
Cotton Fireweed (Senecio quadridentatus), a native Australian member of the genus demonstrating that its exotic cousins are not the only members of Senecio with capacity … Read the full post
African Thistle (Berkheya rigida)
African Thistle (Berkheya rigida), a fantastically prickled perennial aster introduced to Australian ports (and apparently no other global destination) in the ballast of empty ships … Read the full post
Boneseed (Chrysanthemoides monilifera ssp. monilifera)
Boneseed (Chrysanthemoides monilifera ssp. monilifera), this time profiling the presence of this invasive shrub aster in the inner metropolitan. The photographs here show the species … Read the full post
Boneseed (Chrysanthemoides monilifera ssp. monilifera)
Boneseed (Chrysanthemoides monilifera ssp. monilifera), a South African coastal shrub aster now more widespread in Australia and New Zealand than in its native range. Boneseed … Read the full post
Trailing African Daisy (Dimorphotheca fruticosa)
Trailing African Daisy (Dimorphotheca fruticosa), a showy South African aster that has springboarded back into ruderal ecology in an increasing number of Mediterranean climates around … Read the full post
Annual Saltmarsh Aster or Aster-weed (Symphyotrichum subulatum)
Annual Saltmarsh Aster or Aster-weed (Symphyotrichum subulatum), naturalised on brackish wetland areas, riparian banks, irrigation canals, and seasonally wet sites throughout Victoria. Native to saline … Read the full post
Climbing Groundsel (Senecio angulatus)
Climbing Groundsel (Senecio angulatus), another winter-flowering climbing aster from Southern Africa. Climbing varieties like this one were likely included in early horticultural imports of unidentified … Read the full post
Cape Ivy (Delairea odorata)
Cape Ivy (Delairea odorata), a sickly sweet smelling smotherer of fencelines, coastal dunes and riparian understoreys. An environmental weed known elsewhere as Ivy-leaved Groundsel, this … Read the full post
South American Goldenrod (Solidago chilensis)
South American Goldenrod (Solidago chilensis), a member of that prolific and striking lineage of predominantly Western Hemisphere asters, now established on suburban Melbourne streams. Goldenrods … Read the full post
Cobbler’s Pegs (Bidens pilosa)
Cobbler’s Pegs (Bidens pilosa), also known as Beggar’s Ticks, Farmer’s Friend, Blackjack, a cosmopolitan aster from the Americas that has been distributed globally, to the … Read the full post
Mexican Marigold (Tagetes erecta syn T. patula)
Mexican Marigold (Tagetes erecta syn T. patula), known as African or French Marigolds depending on the cultivar / chromosome count. An alien orange aster lovingly … Read the full post
New York Aster or Michaelmas Daisy (Symphyotrichum novi-belgii)
New York Aster or Michaelmas Daisy (Symphyotrichum novi-belgii), a North American perennial aster adopted into ornamental cultivation and from there into weediness. New York Aster … Read the full post
African bush daisy (Euryops chrysanthemoides)
African bush daisy (Euryops chrysanthemoides), a favoured ornamental garden shrub now naturalising into Victorian floodways. Have you seen this plant in suspicious circumstances? Native to … Read the full post
Sunflower Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus)
Sunflower Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), a North American aster on something of a march along Melbourne’s waterways. Also known as Jerusalem Artichoke, Sunchoke, topinambour. Although still … Read the full post
Gallant Soldier (Galinsoga parviflora)
Gallant Soldier (Galinsoga parviflora), a Central American annual herb now distributed throughout the temperate and subtropical world as a consequence of 19th century botanical and … Read the full post
Prickly Lettuce (Lactuca serriola)
Prickly Lettuce (Lactuca serriola), direct progenitor of garden lettuce and ubiquitous feature of disturbed, paved and wasted landscapes. The growth cycle of Prickly Lettuce is … Read the full post
Artichoke Thistle (Cynara cardunculus)
Artichoke Thistle (Cynara cardunculus), a signature of landowner neglect throughout the basalt clay of Melbourne’s north and west peripheral. This Mediterranean plant was listed as … Read the full post
Chicory (Cichorium intybus)
Chicory (Cichorium intybus), perhaps more familiar today in cultivated forms as the edible greens Endive and Radicchio, but a historically significant coffee substitute or adulterant. … Read the full post
Mexican Fleabane, Seaside Daisy (Erigeron karvinskianus)
Mexican Fleabane, Seaside Daisy (Erigeron karvinskianus). Infinitely spreading, this is a favoured Melbourne fence and border floss, but also a covert weed that has made … Read the full post
Cat’s Ear or Flatweed (Hypochaeris radicata)
Cat’s Ear or Flatweed (Hypochaeris radicata), a globalised temperate zone weed from Europe, and among the most prevalent weeds of Southeastern Australia. Superficially similar to … Read the full post
Flax-leaf Fleabane (Erigeron bonariensis)
Flax-leaf Fleabane (Erigeron bonariensis), a South American colonist of paddocks and grain fields, and a persistent exploiter of pavement cracks and lightly trafficked waste grounds … Read the full post
Purple Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius)
Purple Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius), a taproot-forming biennial flower from Europe, and an occasional casual food crop that like so many others became a weed in … Read the full post
Smooth Cat’s-ear (Hypochaeris glabra)
Smooth Cat’s-ear (Hypochaeris glabra), with hoverfly. Reported in Tasmania from 1844, SA from 1847, and Victoria from 1867 when it showed up in the Midlands … Read the full post
Coastal Gazania (Gazania rigens)
Coastal Gazania (Gazania rigens), a major component of Melbourne’s fluorescent coast although it is the less extensively established of Victoria’s two weed Gazanias. Native to … Read the full post
Bachelor’s Buttons (Cotula australis)
Bachelor’s Buttons (Cotula australis), a native Australian colonist of damp areas where rocks or other obstructions exclude taller-growing plants, and a weed of similar urban … Read the full post
English Daisy (Bellis perennis)
English Daisy (Bellis perennis), dainty evocations of sweet nostalgia, and environmental invaders of coastal, riparian and alpine communities. At Yarra Park, English Daisy is a … Read the full post
Capeweed (Arctotheca calendula)
Capeweed (Arctotheca calendula), fearsome, tiny, glorious invader of just about anywhere with sun, destroyer of worlds. In Yarra Park, and anywhere else you might choose … Read the full post
Garden Marigold (Calendula officinalis)
Garden Marigold (Calendula officinalis) flowering outside my building last weekend. Too showy for its own good, I came home to find that it had been … Read the full post