"Pat Frasher" <cent at uq.net.au> wrote:
>Can I get some information on the following plants and effects
>>Groundsel. Lantana, Prickly Pear....
>
Groundsel = _Senecio_ species. There are 40 species in New South Wales of
which five are introduced. These are minor weeds of disturbed ground in
Australia. _Senecio madagascariensis_ is a declared noxious weed in some
places because of its toxicity to horses and cattle. (Flora of NSW, (Ed)
Gwen J. Harden, New South Wales Univesity Press, 1992)
Lanatana: There are several introduced lantanas. As far as I know, only
_Lantana camara_ has become a noxious weed. It is a major pest of fertile
well-watered areas in Australia. It is also poisonous to animals. Several
insect have been introduced to control lantana. They may have had some
success but there is still a lot of lantana around.
Prickly pear = _Opuntia stricta_
This was a serious pest covering wide areas of North-Eastern Australia,
from the 1840ies until it was spectacularly controlled by introduction of
the _Cactoblastis cactorum_ insect in 1926. Prickly pear is now rare. (C.
B. Osmond & J. Monro pp 194-222 in 'Plants and Man in Australia', D.J. &
S.G.M Carr, Adademic Press 1981)
>what are the effects of these introduced plant pests in Australia?
>if you could just outline what they do /are, or where I can get some further
>information regarding this.
>>cent at uq.net.au>thankyou
Bob Vickery
vickery at mpx.com.au
