 Description: Scotch thistle is an erect annual or biennial herb to 2 m high, commonly 1 to 1.2 m. Generally one main stem with numerous branches, covered with dense, appressed, woolly hairs giving it a whitish-grey appearance. It has broad spiny wings along the stems. The flower heads are purple and round with spiny bracts. As A Soil Indicator: Low Calcium, High Potassium. High Manganese, High Magnesium, Very low Iron, High Sulfate, High Boron, Low humus in the soil , Limited bacteria, Compacted soil , Poor drainage Life cycle: Annual or biennial. Seed germinate at any time with a flush of germination in late summer to early autumn or late winter to spring. Plants that germinate in late summer form sizeable rosettes before the onset of winter. Seedlings from late autumn or early winter may suffer a very high natural mortality. Beneficial: Apparently once cultivated as a medicinal plant for treating skin sores and ulcers. The roots, young shoots and flower buds were eaten as vegetables. Flowers can be used to make a ‘rennet’ to set cheese. Mineral accumulator Detrimental: A weed of improved pastures, crops, fallows and disturbed areas. It is strongly competitive. Newly sown pastures are often overrun by Scotch Thistle in infested areas. It is too spiny to be readily grazed. Damages mouths and eyes of stock and contaminates wool. Toxicity: Not recorded as toxic 
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 Description: Blackberry Nightshade is an erect herb or small short-lived bushy shrub to 1 m high. The leaves are 2-7.5 cm long, entire or very shallowly lobed. The flowers are white, in short-stalked clusters of 4-12 flowers. Life cycle: Annual or rarely perennial herb or small shrub. Germination occurs mainly in spring and summer. Flowering occurs 5-9 weeks after germination and continues until the plant dies. Plant death is usually determined by environmental conditions rather than age and drought, cold or frost kills them. In some environments they behave as annuals and in milder conditions they act as perennials. Beneficial: Mature fruit used for jam. Used as a herb. Used in dyes in preserved fruits. Detrimental: It is an alternate host for diseases including anthracnose, Cercospora, blight, leaf spot and powdery mildew, at least 13 nematodes, 3 bacterial diseases, 7 fungal diseases including Rhizoctonia and over 30 crop viruses. Toxicity: The plant does not appear to be toxic at all times, and toxicity may be restricted to certain stages of growth, be influenced by particular growing conditions, or be a characteristic of only certain strains of what is a somewhat variable species. Immature fruit should be treated as toxic
 Description: A rosette forming, biennial or perennial plant with backward pointing lobes on its leaves and single bright yellow daisy-like flowers on long stalks and milky sap As A Soil Indicator: Very low Calcium, Very high Magnesium, High Chlorine, Low humus in the soil , Good drainage Life cycle: Biennial or perennial. Seeds germinate in autumn and to a lesser extent in spring. It grows mainly in the warmer months. Beneficial: Honey plant. Attracts beneficial insects. Leaves bitter but edible as a salad vegetable. Roasted roots are ground and used as a coffee substitute. Does not host Root Lesion Nematodes Naturalised Distribution: widely naturalised in southern and eastern Australia (i.e. in eastern Queensland, many parts of New South Wales and South Australia, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania and south western Western Australia). Also naturalised in the southern parts of the Northern Territory, and Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island Toxicity: Suspected of causing hay fever.
 Description: A erect plant with an annual rosette of large, broad leaves with indented bases and long flowering stems with compact seed heads and a perennial, carrot like rootstock. It flowers from September to January and has fruit with spined wings and 3 warts or tubercles As A Soil Indicator: Very low Calcium, Very low Phosphorus, Very high Potassium, High Manganese, High Iron, High Copper, High Zinc, Little bacteria, High Salt, High Aluminium levels, low drainage Life cycle: Annual top and perennial rootstock. Seeds germinate mainly in autumn and spring and form a rosette and rootstock over winter. Around the 5 leaf stage the upper part of the root contracts pulling the crown deeper into the soil. Some may produce flowering stems in the summer. Top growth dies over summer leaving the perennial rootstock in the soil. Most spring germinating seedlings die. Shoots emerge from rootstocks in autumn and quickly form a large rosette that shades and crowds neighbouring plants. Flower stems emerge in late spring to early summer and form seed over summer. The stems and top growth dies off in summer or autumn though some rosette leaves may persist in summer moist areas. Beneficial: Used in herbal medicine for rubbing on skin to neutralise stinging nettle and other skin irritations Detrimental: it is often strongly competitive Toxicity: May contain potentially toxic amounts of oxalate that could lead to oxalate poisoning but it is rarely a problem in the field.
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February 2021
Permaculture
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