Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Unwanted Pretty Wildflowers

Hagonoy is our local term for (Chromolaena odorata), a weed that can be lumped with those things called obnoxious. But it has other local names in other country dialects. It is known to have originated from South and Central America, commonly called siam weed, triffid weed, bitter bush or jack in the bush or even devil weed. It migrated to the country in the early sixties and can be found anywhere in the country now. Aside from being very invasive, a single root left in the soil eventually grows so easily. The profuse growth is also  because caterpillars don't like to eat them. Moreover, goats and cattle are poisoned if they eat this because of its high nitrate contents. So they mainly leave this plant alone. Exemptions are some moths and butterflies which cannot resist the flowers. If all these things are not yet obnoxious to you, then i don't know what is!

Farmers exert efforts to eradicate this weed from their property, but eventually they find them again, so keep their farms in check.

A single stalk with lots of branch stalks producing the flowers

 Another photo to show the single stalk or branch with profuse flowers, which will eventually become seeds.


Above is an expanse of a hilly farm fully covered by this weed. 

 In February the flowers are already dried and the seeds are already starting to disperse. Burning the vegetation might not be an easy alternative as the vegetative plant parts remain green.

Umbels of dried seeds ready to disperse with the aid of the wind.

Some of my butterfly enthusiast friends say they love this weed because they see butterflies fleeting on the flowers. However, i disagree as there are many worthwhile and lovelier flowers that are more agreeable with the butterflies. In our case in the property, I seldom see butterflies and bees in these flowers. Maybe with high availability of alternatives, they also would not visit these flowers often. That is my current explanation on this matter, however I will still make a lot of observations from other places before i conclude of my theory.

WILDFLOWER WEDNESDAY CELEBRATING WILDFLOWERS ALL OVER THE BLOGASPHERE

7 comments:

  1. we too have no spring :( that´s while we are calling for spring with the colors of spring! may be you will find some :)

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  2. We have obnoxious weeds the insects love, but they are not native and in fact invasive...so I agree there are better flowers many times that are usually native.

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  3. If you have not mentioned the word "obnoxious' I would have that you love this weed, having devoted 6 out of 7 photos to them. We have this unloved weed in our country too. They are such a nuisance.

    Btw, how come you are so knowledgeable about it? Are you a weed Terminator ? ;D

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    1. Thanks Stiletto, the 7 photo is the meme for Wildflower Wednesday, you should link there too! I am a bit knowledgeable about it because it is in our property and i encounter it every moment i step outdoors, besides all my degrees are in the plant sciences!

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  4. Invasive plants are a real scourge, and control can be so difficult.

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  5. It looks like this weed has few controls, natural or otherwise. It is difficult to control then and must really pose a problem to farmers.

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    1. Hi Donna, reports say there are no natural controls because the normal predators of this weed did not come with it during its migration, predators are left in the country of origin. Yes it is a problem, vegetatively and as health hazards to grazing animals.

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