WEED WEDNESDAY: Blue Heliotrope (Heliotropium amplexicaule)

Blue Heliotrope competes with desirable pasture plants and causes toxicity to stock. It is widespread and adaptable to a wide range of soil and climate types. It is also extremely drought hardy.

HOW DO I IDENTIFY IT?

Leaves are:

• alternate

• dull green

• soft

• tapered at both ends

Stems are:

• many, hairy and branched

• radiating from woody roots

• highly aromatic

Flowers are:

• bluish-purple with yellow centre

• in dense clusters along one side of a coiled stalk

Roots:

• have a strong, slender taproot, generally extending to over 1m

• woody

• have a complex system of lateral roots occurring at several depths

HOW DOES IT SPREAD?

Blue Heliotrope is adapted to a wide range of habitats, and can reproduce from both seed and root fragments. Blue Heliotrope spreads aggressively, as it produces many sticky seeds that adhere to animals and machinery. Seed can pass unharmed through the digestive tracts of most animals. Blue Heliotrope can also regenerate from root fragments. It is most commonly spread by road graders, farm machinery, livestock, humans and the movement of water along watercourses.