Club shaped

51. Groundsel bush

Baccharis halimifolia

    

A densely branching shrub, usually 1.5 to 2.5 m high, but some-times can be a small tree up to 7 m tall. Leaves are alternate, 2.5 to 5 cm long and 1 to 2.5 cm wide, pale green and waxy. They are broad and wedged-shaped with a few large teeth but in the upper part of the plant may be tapered at both ends and without teeth. Male and female flowers are borne in clusters on separate plants and are very numerous. The male flowers are pale yellow and the female flowers are white. The seeds on the female plants have a characteristic fluffy appearance in the flowering stage during autumn.

Groundsel Bush grows in southern Queensland and NSW and is found mainly on low-lying wasteland, degraded pastures and in forests.

 

52. Pink periwinkle

Catharanthus roseus

  

A small, erect to spreading shrub that grows to approximately 60 cm tall. Leaves are opposite, shining, dark green above and pale green beneath. Leaf veins are conspicuous. The leaf tip is rounded with a small point and tapers at the base to a short leaf stalk. Leaves are usually 5 cm long and 2.5 cm wide: Flowers are rose-pink, with a darker eye, or white. They are about 2.5 cm across with a very slender tube, about 2.5 cm long, carried singularly in the leaf joints. Seed pods are slender, spindle-shaped and 2.5 cm long and 3 mm wide. Two pods are produced by each flower, these split open to expose rows of small, dark, bead-like seeds on each side of the pod.

Pink Periwinkle is an escapee from cultivation and is a minor weed of cane fields. Sometimes locally called Billygoat Weed.

 

53. Gambia rattlepod

Crotalaria spectabilis

  

An upright, annual shrub growing to 2 m high with large showy, yellow flowers. Leaves have only one leaflet about 10 cm long and 3.5 cm wide, wedge-shaped at the base, rounded but with a short point at the tip. Leaflets are dull, bluish-green with two small leaf-like stipules arising where the leaf stalk joins the stem. Flowers are carried in spikes at the end of branches and are bright yellow, pea-shaped about 2 cm long and on short, slender stalks with a conspicuous leaf like bract at the base. Pods are 4 to 5 cm long and 1.5 cm wide, black when ripe and contain many, small, brown, shiny seeds.

Gambia Rattlepod is common throughout coastal areas occur-ring on roadsides, banks, headlands and in cultivated ground.

   

54. Epaltes

Epaltes australia

    

A prostrate perennial with many branches and growing to 25 cm. leaves are on short stalks, club-shaped and rounded at the tip. They are about 3 cm long and 1 cm broad and have wavy edges. Flower heads are on short stalks arising from the leaf joints and are cone shaped.

Epaltes is widespread in the Moreton and Wide Bay districts and is usually found in damp areas. It tolerates saline soils.

  
   

55. Cudweeds

Gnaphalium spp.

    

Small, annual or short-lived perennial herbs that grow up to 50 cm high. The plant first forms a rosette of club-shaped, blunt leaves. Leaves are up to 10 cm long with one or both sides green-grey or silvery. Flower heads are usually without petals, are chaffy or papery, and collected into spikes or heads at the ends of the branches. They are sometimes woolly and with leaf-like outgrowths in or below the heads.

Cudweeds are common in all areas, particularly in damp and sheltered situations on the margins of cane fields.

 
   

56. Pigweed

Portulaca oleracea

    

A succulent, prostrate, occasionally erect, annual plant. Stems are green or purplish and rounded in cross section. Leaves are wedge-shaped at the base, usually broad and slightly notched at the tip. The leaves are fleshy, about 15 to 20 mm long, 10 mm wide and often clustered towards the ends of the branches. Flowers are yellow about 8 mm across and have five petals which fall off the day the flowers open. The tops of the seed capsules break off when ripe to release shiny, black seeds.

Pigweed is widespread and common in all districts. It is capable of growing under dry conditions and on dry soil types. It is relatively easily controlled but will compete with cane for moisture when it is allowed to occupy a large proportion of the surface area.