North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

I visited Corroboree this morning and went to one of the small lesser known side billabongs and discovered a vast amount of invasive weed. I'm not sure that it is Salvinia but it could be cabbage weed?
There is also some of this weed to the right of the ramp in the small channel where the original ramp was. Upon returning to the ramp area I found more of it at the ramp itself.
I will be reporting it to AFANT, if someone knows who to send it to at NT parks or similar, it would be great to if you could forward on information. If you come across any please report it, we don't want Corroboree going the way of Four Mile.

just did a search for it and got this https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiver ... olesta.pdf

whatever it is, sounds like there is too much there. maybe contact the dept for action. they rely on public to report stuff i suppose

Email this address; from the attached link
[email protected]




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Wombat on here is a weeds man. He'd more than likely be able to tell you what it is

Thanks Nomad and NoFish, that was the one I was thinking of.

As for being too much, yeah. There is bout a 500m section where both banks are as thick as the pictures I posted.If they get onto it quickly they will be able to quarantine the two main areas to stop the spread.

Direct from the Weeds Branch

Pistia stratiotes

Native in the Top End. Populations seem to appear and disappear in Corroboree and other freshwater billabongs.

NofishNT wrote:Email this address; from the attached link
[email protected]

The email address appears to have been changed to [email protected] (https://nt.gov.au/environment/weeds/weed-management-branch-contacts).

I did a quick search and think that it might be Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) https://www.google.com.au/search?q=Pistia+stratiotes&safe=off&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi7z7Hq8s_TAhWEmZQKHa0yAEkQ_AUICigB&biw=2327&bih=1393, which is a declared pest in Western Australiahttps://www.agric.wa.gov.au/declared-plants/water-lettuce-declared-pest.

I have reported it but if you come across any please do note the location and report it.

Dan

tristan.sloan wrote:Direct from the Weeds Branch
Pistia stratiotes
Native in the Top End. Populations seem to appear and disappear in Corroboree and other freshwater billabongs.

That's interesting Tristian, the rest of Australia (and also East Africa) thinks that it is a pest from South America, Asia and ironically Africa. From the NSW page:

Distribution
Water lettuce is native to Asia, Africa and equatorial America. There is debate about whether the Northern Territory, where it was collected in 1946, forms part of its native range. It has since spread to Queensland, NSW and Western Australia.
Isolated infestations of water lettuce have occurred in coastal districts of New South Wales (NSW) north of Sydney - in the Tweed River Catchment at Pigaben and Tyalgum, and the Richmond River Catchment at Bungawalbin, Casino, Bonalbo and Grevillia. Isolated infestations have also been found at Macksville, Taree and Maitland. Some of these infestations are thought to have been introduced into NSW on eel trapping equipment. There is also an isolated infestation in the NSW portion of the Murray Darling Basin, in the Dumaresq River downstream of Texas. This infestation, which is thought to have spread from upstream, has been under intense control and is close to being eradicated. (http://weeds.dpi.nsw.gov.au/Weeds/Details/173)

The weed looks familiar to me but I don't recall seeing it there in the past. Be very happy to be corrected on the matter.

Dan

Tristan is on the money - the plant at Corroboree is a native, although I personally have never seen it at Corroboree. It is similar looking to Salvinia, and it's good that it was reported.

Well, call me educated.... Thanks Tristan and Wombat.

Tom from the Weed Management Branch called me this morning about 90 minutes after sending him my email, top work.

Apparently the weed is considered native as it does not seem to get out of control here as it does in other regions. For what ever reason, when large infestations occur they usually disperse the following year. Read into that as you will.

Tom did go on to say he hadn't ever seen it that thick at Corroborrie before and they would expect that it will be flushed in the next season.

Dan