By Kristoffer Halkjær, u7525482

Different weeds are spreading like a pandemic across Australia. One of these wretched creations, seen from an Australian perspective, are Carthamus lanatus or perhaps better known as saffron thistle. As a participant of The friends of Mount Majura (FoMM) weeding session, my job was to find these thistles and pull them from the ground using a pickaxe.

What even is a weed?

A weed is a plant, that causes damage outside of its natural occurring environment. The damage can be towards many things but it is most often against the local ecosystem. The weed can often outcompete native species for water, light, and nutrients. This lowers biodiversity in the local area.

The Monday morning experience

Photo of the map over Mount Majura Nature Reserve, photo by Kristoffer Halkjær, 2022.

The Friends of Mount Majura meets weekly on Monday mornings. The group was a collection of adults and children in all ages. The equipment consisted of gloves, pruners, pickaxes, big bags, and herbicides. The route was planned from home, so my job was just to follow along. The people I met were very welcoming and I got to learn a lot about the reserve and the different native species and weeds. The FoMM have earlier had success with controlling the thistle at an old sheep camp, so they know from experience what works. What works is hard work, since they used three years on lowering the amount significantly. The three years are necessary since, most seeds have germinated at this point.

Photo of Carthamus lanatus by Kristoffer Halkjær, 2022.

Quiz 1) Test your knowledge on Mount Majura. In what year did Mount Majura become a Nature Reserve? Answer at the bottom
a) 1989
b) 1993
c) 1997

How does it spread?

On the day of the volunteering work, I was told to just pull the thistles up from the root and place them upside down. Putting the plant upside down was done in order to distinguish it from the other thistles, that were yet to be pulled. But I was surprised, that the thistles didn’t need to go in the big weed bag we brought to the side. This was due to it not being the season for seed spreading, so no flowers were present on the plant. Saffron thistle actually doesn’t spread as fast as other weeds. The seed is too heavy to fly particular long. It is, however, able to float in water as well as being carried by stock or other kinds of mechanical transportation.

Tools used for weeding, photo by Kristoffer Halkjær, 2022.

Quiz 2) Test your knowledge on thistles. How tall can a saffron thistle become? Answer at the bottom
a) 50 cm
b) 100 cm
c) 150 cm

What can you do about it?

The easy answer would be to suggest you join the Friends of Mount Majura for their weekly weeding. This will help the yellow box – Red gum grassy woodland of Mount Majura on a small scale. But in order to make a really significant change, help must come from a bigger scale. So go out a make your voice heard. Get people to understand the real issue we are facing. Perhaps even join government. It is a tough battle but the alternative is the continued decline of biodiversity!

Acknowledgment

I would like to thank the Friends of Mount Majura for their work in preserving Mount Majura Nature Reserve and teaching me about their mission. I would also like to thank Prof. Phil Gibbons for giving me the opportunity to get some experience in volunteering and for running an amazing course.

References

[1] NSW Government, 2021, Weeds, Available at: https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/pest-animals-and-weeds/weeds (Accessed 30 October 2022)

[2] Government of Western Australia, 2017, Saffron thistle: what you should know, Available at: https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/declared-plants/saffron-thistle-what-you-should-know (Accessed 30 October 2022)

[3] Waltraud P, 2014, Saffron Thistle Weed Blitz @ The Fair, Available at: https://majura.org/event/saffron-thistle-weed-blitz-the-fair-2/ (Accessed 28 October 2022)

[4] Linnaeus C, 2021, Carthamus lanatus L, Available at: https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/weeds-australia/profile/Carthamus%20lanatus (Accessed 30 October 2022)

[5] The Australian Association of Bush Regenerators, 2022, WHAT IS A WEED?, Available at: https://www.aabr.org.au/learn/what-is-a-weed/ (Accessed 30 October 2022)

[6] Queensland Government, 2020, Saffron thistle, Available at: https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/75395/saffron-thistle.pdf (Accessed 29 October 2022)

[7] Shorten C, 2007, Saffron Thistle, Available at: http://cdn.connectingcountry.org.au/press/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/11162442/Saffron-Thistle.pdf (Accessed 30 October 2022)

Answers for quiz; 1b, 2c.