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 An
Illustrated Guide to
Common Weeds
of New Zealand
Calluna
vulgaris
heather
Family
ERICACEAE
 Reproduced
from
Common
Weeds of New Zealand
by Bruce Roy, Ian Popay, Paul Champion, Trevor James & Anis
Rahman
ISBN 0 473 09760 5
by kind permission of the
New
Zealand Plant Protection Society
Publication or other use of images or descriptive
text on these pages is unauthorised unless written permission is
obtained from the authors and publisher. Appropriate acknowledgement
of the publication Common Weeds of New Zealand must always
be given.
Available from Manaaki-Whenua
Press and Touchwood
Books
Bushy, tough,
woody, evergreen perennial shrub up to 50 cm tall. Small, pale purple,
bell-shaped flowers in summer make dense stands of the plant very
attractive. Small, stalkless leaves in four vertical rows on the
branches. Especially common, and a major problem, in National Parks.
- Flowers Pale
purple, bell-shaped corolla of four petals joined into a tube
about 2 mm in diameter. The four purple sepals, 2-4 mm long, are
longer than the corolla. The flowers are on a narrow, leafy raceme
up to 9 cm long, growing in leaf axils on the upper shoots. Flowers
Dec-Mar.
- Fruit Tiny,
hairy, round capsules with four cells. Seeds strongly-meshed,
up to 0.7 mm long.
- Leaves Oblong,
up to 3.5 mm long, hairless but sometimes downy, overlap in four
vertical rows on the twigs. They are dark green, but later turn
brown.
- Stems Wiry,
pliable, woody. Young growth initially densely hairy, later becoming
hairless.
Habitat
Poor undeveloped grassland
on acid soils.
Distribution
Common on pumice soils
of Volcanic Plateau and at Te Aroha and Mt. Egmont National Park
in NI. In SI at Hokitika, Mt. Cook, Queenstown and Te Anau, and
on Campbell Island. Originally from Europe, Asia Minor and north
Africa.
Comments
Often cultivated in
gardens by early settlers, it was deliberately planted at one
time in Tongariro National Park, and established well. Efforts
have been made to introduce biological control agents, so far
without success. Subject to Pest Plant Management Strategies in
several regions of NZ. Listed on the National
Pest Plant Accord (see Introduction for details).
Related
species
Bell heather (Erica
cinerea) is well established in Tongariro National Park,
also Opotiki and South Canterbury, distinguished by needle-like
leaves in whorls of four, and larger, 6 mm long, bell-shaped flowers.
Berry heath (Erica baccans) is occasionally found from
Kaitaia to north of Kaipara Harbour, and on Great Barrier Island.
Its leaves are in whorls of four, and it is distinguished from
bell heather by the ridges and depressions of the corolla tube.
Tree heath (Erica arborea) can form a small tree up to
5 m tall, with densely hairy shoots, and white flowers, 2.5-4
mm long. Occurs in scrub and low forest, especially near roadsides,
scattered in NI from Auckland southwards, also in Nelson, Dunedin.
Hedge heath (Erica caffra) is a woolly hairy shrub, with
fragrant, white to pinkish flowers that are 5.5-7 mm long. Occurs
in hillside scrub in Auckland, Te Aroha (Waikato), Athenree (Bay
of Plenty) and Wellington.
Derivation
of botanical name
Calluna (Gr.)
= to cleanse, since it was once used for making brooms; vulgaris
(Lat.) = common.
Web-notes:
Weed Links
On this site
Reproduced from Common Weeds
of New Zealand:
External Links
 Weedbusters
New Zealand
- Weedbusters is a weeds awareness and education programme that aims to
protect New Zealand's environment from the increasing weed problem.
 New
Zealand Plant Conservation Network Weeds Fact Sheets
- Search for 1500 weed fact sheets mainly derived from the Department of
Conservation's BIOWEB weeds database.
 New
Zealand Plant Protection Society
- Their main objective: "To pool and exchange information on the biology
of weeds, invertebrate and vertebrate pests, pathogens and beneficial organisms
and methods for modifying their effects."
-
 New
Zealand Landcare Trust
- Plant Pest information including Pictures, Distribution Maps, References,
Environmental Effects and Control.
-
- New
Zealand Aquatic Weeds
- Hosted by the weed management group of NIWA (National Institute of Water
and Atmospheric Research).
-
- Weed
Control Manual for the Bay of Plenty
- Weeds information compiled by Environment Bay of Plenty.
-
 Massey
University Weeds Database- A site providing information about New Zealand weeds and weed control.
It has a series of pages showing pictures of New Zealand weeds, notes on
identification and control. It also provides information on a university
paper entitled Controlling Weeds.
-
- Canterbury
Weed Guide
- A weed identification guide prepared by the Christchurch City Council.
-
- Australian
Plants as Weeds
- Part of the Association of Societies for Growing Australian Plants website.
- Department
of Agriculture Western Australia
- Collection of weed resources from the Department of Agriculture, Government
of Western Australia
- Weed
Society of Victoria
- Promoting wider awareness and interest in weeds and their management.
Includes a useful page of links
to other weed societies.
-
- Tamar
Valley Weeds Strategy
- Listing of common and botanical names, images, and information including
control methods for weeds found in Tasmania, and also on the Australian
mainland.
-
-
- New
Jersey Weed Gallery, USA
- Listing of common and botanical names and images, plus a small amount
of information for weeds that cause problems in the USA.
- Invasive
and Exotic Species of North America
- Images and other information from the University of Georgia.
- University
of California
- Weed Photo Gallery, with common and botanical names.
-
- World
of Weeds
- Weed-related resources including weed science, practical tools, gardening
tips about controlling weeds, and environmental news updates.
-
- Invasive
Species Specialist Group
- "The ISSG aims to reduce threats to natural ecosystems and the native
species they contain by increasing awareness of invasive alien species,
and of ways to prevent, control or eradicate them."
-
- Invasive
Woody Plants
- Collection of research and associated literature for invasive woody plants
in the tropics and the temperate zone.
-
- WeedScience.com
- Site that includes a comprehensive collection of weed images from around
the world.
-
-
 Books
on Weeds from FetchBook.Info
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