Herbs Weed profiles & Native alternatives
I’M A WEED
Cape Marigold
Cape Marigold
Dimorphotheca pluvialis
Soft, spreading to erect perennial, herb or shrub, 0.2-0.5 m high and spreads to about 1 m, forming new roots from spreading stem nodes to increase its spread. It has large bluish-white or purple daisy flowers with 12-18 petals, white above, purple to violet below in Winter and Spring.
Threat / Problem
• Forms dense patches and creeping habit smothers native vegetation.
Spread
• Grows from seed and runners spread by wind, movement of soil and garden waste dumping.
Control
• Hand pull, grub or spot spray.
GROW ME INSTEAD
Cushion Fan Flower
Cushion Fan Flower
Scaevola crassifolia
Dense, spreading shrub to 1.5 m high and 3 m wide with thick, stiff, paddle-shaped leaves with fine toothed margins. The fanshaped flowers are five-petalled, white to blue or pale-purple, 0.8-1 cm long from September to January.
Interesting flower colour and fragrance. Butterfly nectar plant.
Cushion Fan Flower
OR GROW ME
Coast Bush Pea
Coast Bush-pea
Pultenaea tenuifolia
Belongs to a group of plants commonly referred to as “egg and bacon” plants due to its flower colour. A slender, low-spreading perennial shrub to 1 m high. Leaves, on short stalks, are narrow and softly hairy, 4-8 mm long, often crowded, silky underneath.
The yellow pea flowers are sessile (no stalks), 5-8 mm long, 1 or 2 at the tips of short lateral branchlets, surrounded by clustered leaves from August to December.
The pea plants provide food for the larval stages and a nectar source of several species of butterfly including the Fringed Heath Blue and the Long Tailed Pea Blue.
Coast Bush Pea
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