Silene (Silene pseudoatocion) possibly referred to in its home range as Mountain Carnation. This is a plant which has naturalised sparingly under ideal conditions in … Read the full post
Ivy-leaved Toadflax (Cymbalaria muralis)
Ivy-leaved Toadflax (Cymbalaria muralis), a nearly ubiquitous temperate weed of stone and brick structures. Originating in the European Alps, the plant was spread across Europe … Read the full post
Shepherd’s Purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris)
Shepherd’s Purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris), one of the world’s most ubiquitous cosmopolitan weeds, presenting here in a truly exceptional infestation on unit pavers. Recorded in Victoria … Read the full post
Tree Lucerne (Cytisus proliferus)
Tree Lucerne (Cytisus proliferus), a nefarious shrub brought to Australia as a fodder plant from the Canary Islands, and also sold in Melbourne from 1882 … Read the full post
Pale wood-sorrel (Oxalis incarnata)
Pale wood-sorrel (Oxalis incarnata), spilling out of a front garden in Northcote. A late arrival from Southern Africa, the species (also known by common names … Read the full post
Small Nettle (Urtica urens)
Small Nettle (Urtica urens), a cosmopolitan Eurasian weed naturalised and recorded in Victoria from 1883. The species most likely arrived in contaminated seed, although we … Read the full post
Angled Onion (Allium triquetrum)
Angled Onion (Allium triquetrum), a noxious weed and riparian invader, and a plant that surprisingly does not seem to have a record in Australia prior … Read the full post
Greater Periwinkle (Vinca major)
Greater Periwinkle (Vinca major), one of the true ornamental scourges of the world’s temperate environments, thanks to the influence of first the Romans (I suspect) … Read the full post
Wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum)
Wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum) is a winter and spring-growing annual with somewhat unusual four-petaled flowers which vary in colour and venation. The species would have … Read the full post
Onion Weed (Asphodelus fistulosus)
Onion Weed (Asphodelus fistulosus), a noxious weed of Victoria’s northwest cereal growers and other similar areas of Australia, but a plant that is also present … 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
Common Centaury (Centaurium erythraea)
Common Centaury (Centaurium erythraea), sometimes known as Feverwort. A traditional medicinal and bittering herb in its home range through the Mediterranean and Central Asia, it … Read the full post
Musk Storksbill (Erodium moschatum)
Musk Storksbill (Erodium moschatum), also known as Whitestem Filligree, a Eurasian weed geranium of lawns, wastelands and pasturage. Widely distributed along Victoria’s main pastoral belts, … Read the full post
Tall fleabane (Erigeron sumatrensis)
Tall fleabane (Erigeron sumatrensis), sometimes known as Horseweed. Thought to have originated in South America, this is another very successful pantropical weed that achieves as … Read the full post
Large-flowered or Purple Woodsorrel (Oxalis purpurea)
Large-flowered or Purple Woodsorrel (Oxalis purpurea), a widespread, winter-flowering environmental weed originally brought from South Africa as a garden ornamental. It showed up in Melbourne … Read the full post
Wall Pellitory (Parietaria judaica)
Wall Pellitory (Parietaria judaica) in one of its great Melbourne infestations, on the shingle and retaining walls of a disordered margin above the Lower Yarra. … Read the full post
Pampas Lily of the Valley (Salpichroa organifolia)
Pampas Lily of the Valley (Salpichroa organifolia) is a scrambling plant capable of smothering small trees and wire fences alike, and originated in temperate South … Read the full post
Bunchflower Daffodil (Narcissus tazetta ssp. aureus)
Bunchflower Daffodil (Narcissus tazetta ssp. aureus) on the east bank of Gardiner’s Creek. The fully golden Jonquil is a product of the western Mediterranean (Italy, … Read the full post
Bunchflower Daffodil (Narcissus tazetta ssp. tazetta)
Bunchflower Daffodil (Narcissus tazetta ssp. tazetta) on the Yarra flood bank in Abbotsford. The pure white-flowering tazetta subspecies of Jonquil is found across the Mediterranean … Read the full post
Madeira Winter Cherry (Solanum pseudocapsicum)
Madeira Winter Cherry (Solanum pseudocapsicum) masquerading as an ornamental shrub in a church forecourt. Its position, crowding out an Aeonium from the kerb edge of … Read the full post
Wall Pellitory (Parietaria judaica)
Wall Pellitory (Parietaria judaica). A ubiquitous urban weed, originally from Southern Europe and Asia Minor. If Melbourne gardeners maintained the state’s weeds list, this might … Read the full post
Lilly Pilly (Syzygium smithii)
Lilly Pilly (Syzygium smithii), riparian rafted and colonising the eastern bank of Gardiner’s Creek. Although sold in Victoria since the early colonial period as an … Read the full post