Blunder forces pest weed hunt
Today's [26/10/2008] Sunday Mail [Page 20]
has a news story stating that a statewide alert has been issued to trace 44 rogue plants with the potential
to cause millions of dollars of damage to agriculture.
The pest plant Mexican feather grass [
Nassella Tenuissima] was mistakenly sold as an ornamental plant by hardware
retailers at Noarlunga, Marion, Mile End,
Parafield Gardens, Gawler and Malvern.
Mexican feather grass is
a declared pest in South Australia and under the Natural Resources Management Act it is prohibited and must be destroyed.
The seedlings came into SA from Victorian wholesale nurseries where they had been wrongly labelled as Stipa capillata and
Stipa capriccio, both ornamental grasses.
Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board is urging people who believe they may have bought
"suspicious" Stipa plants to contact them on
8273 9100.
Board spokesman Martin Weidenbach said the plants could have been purchased by the public between December 12 last year and May this year.
The main feature to distinguish between Stipa capillata and Mexican feather grass is that the leaves of the feather grass are very fine,
almost needle-like, while the Stipa capillata leaves are wider.
