Paterson’s curse
Description
If uncrowded, Paterson’s curse grows as a rosette with leaves 10-35 cm long and are oval to elongated with distinct lateral veins. If densely crowded, the leaves grow upright rather than as a broad rosette at ground level. In spring, light green, bristly stems emerge which are commonly 30-60 cm tall, but can be up to 200 cm tall.
Paterson’s curse is very easily distinguished with its 2-3 cm bright purple, trumpet-shaped flowers.
It is a prolific seeder capable of producing over 5000 seeds per plant per year and while most seeds germinate the following autumn, they can remain dormant for five years.
Control
Preventing the spread to new areas is extremely important as Paterson’s curse is difficult to eradicate when it becomes established. If aiming to eradicate, an integrated approach is required, including using many of the following techniques;
- Growing competitive crops and pastures
- Grazing when young at regular (short) intervals prior to flowering
- Slashing to delay and suppress flowering
- Hand weeding small areas
- Burning to kill many Paterson’s curse seeds and to trigger others to germinate
- Spray grazing to increase the palatability to stock when grazing over short periods
- Spraying small plants which are actively growing.
References
Agriculture Victoria (2017), ‘Paterson’s Curse’, http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/agriculture/pests-diseases-and-weeds/weeds/a-z-of-weeds/patersons-curse
DPIRD (2017), ‘Paterson’s curse: what you should know’, https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/biological-control/patersons-curse-what-you-should-know
NSW WeedWise (2018), ‘Paterson’s curse’, NSW Department of Primary Industries https://weeds.dpi.nsw.gov.au/Weeds/Details/102
