COMMUNITIES in Western Australia’s agricultural regions can now look out for and record the presence of the weed Cape tulip as it comes into flower.
Department of Agriculture and Food development officer Tamrika Lanoiselet said Cape tulip, which has pretty, salmon-coloured flowers, had the potential to impact both agriculture and the environment.
“Cape tulip is a well-established weed that is toxic to all livestock, infests pastures, reducing available feed, and establishes in roadside and forest margins,” Ms Lanoiselet said.
“There is currently no treatment available for poisoned livestock.
“Cape tulip was one of five weeds selected as a surveillance target by the community in March last year.
“To help communities record and map sightings of Cape tulip and other weeds of interest to them, the department developed the weed surveillance app, MyWeedWatcher, which can also be used to report declared weeds of interest to the department.”
The app features a reporting and survey feature for users to map the location of weeds and a guide which allows users to easily identify a weed according to plant characteristics, such as flower colour, leaf shape and plant type.
Ms Lanoiselet said there were one-leaf and two-leaf types of Cape tulip, both of which had dark green, hardy leaves that could reach one metre in length.
Cape tulip produces bulbs that can remain dormant in the soil for many years.
The weed was introduced from South Africa as a garden plant and can be easily spread in contaminated soil or earth moving machinery.
The MyWeedWatcher app is available free from the App Store and Google Play. People
without a smart device can report sightings of Cape tulip and other declared weeds online via the department’s website agric.wa.gov.au.
The Agricultural weed surveillance in the South West to protect industry profitability activity is part of the department’s Boosting Biosecurity Defences project made possible by Royalties for Regions investment.
