There are 32 invasive weeds of national significance – these are 10 of the worst
From ABC News (16/3/25)…
There are 32 invasive weeds of national significance – these are 10 of the worst
By Gavin McGrath
A crack team of ecowarriors is on a seek-and-destroy mission.
They alight from a convoy of all-terrain passenger vehicles and head into the scrub armed with poison and other tools of destruction.
The target of this raid is an unwelcome, spiky invader with the potential to turn an entire landscape into a prickly wasteland.
Native to Mexico, wheel cactus (Opuntia robusta) was likely introduced to Australia, innocently enough, as a hardy ornamental garden plant. It escaped domestication and is now listed among Australia’s worst weeds of national significance.
The so-called Cactus Warriors from Maldon in Central Victoria (officially the Tarrangower Cactus Control Group) have waged a campaign against this noxious weed for two decades.
There have been some local successes. But one of the traits of these weeds is their ability to bounce back after even the shortest period of neglect.
“We have had huge success with awareness raising [about wheel cactus and other cactus varieties],” the group’s president Lee Mead said.
“We guesstimate that 70 per cent of our local landholders now control their infestations.
“It’s because of the other 30 per cent, who are mostly absentee landowners, that the problem persists.
“It will never go away because there are still cactus plants there and it’s just so invasive.”
Wheel cactus is just one of several varieties of exotic cactus that thrive in Australian conditions.
Other Opuntia varieties to establish themselves in Australia include common prickly pear (Opuntia stricta) and Hudson’s pear (Opuntia Cylindropuntia pallida)….
So-called Cactus Warriors wade into a sea of wheel cactus in Central Victoria. (Supplied: Lee Mead, Tarrangower Cactus Control Group)
