Literature review: Impact of Chilean needle grass ... - Weeds Australia

According to Morfe et al. (2003) the reported area of infestations in Victoria by 2002 was 815 ha. Extensive further mapping
occurred throughout the State in 2003 (Iaconis 2006a).
Matthews (2006) reported a sharp increase in the spread and occurrence in south-western Victoria. In addition to a large
established infestation at Lake Hamilton and surrounding urban areas of Hamilton, there were various roadside populations in
Southern Grampians Shire, and infestations in the general areas of Mt Napier Road, Digby Road, Kirkwood Road, roads between
Portland and Digby Roads, Murndal Road and Lake Hamilton, with some spread from roadsides onto adjacent private land.
Infestations have recently been found on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne, by Gidja Walker (pers. comm. 7
December 2007). A “small colony of about 20 plants” was found on the roadside at Point Nepean Road next to the Shelley
Beach turnoff, opposite Campbells Road, between Portsea and Sorrento (Anon. 2008a, Walker pers. comm.). It was also found at
Rye c. late 2005 associated with the Mobil service station, growing in scoria (Walker pers. comm).
Major infestations were reported between Bairnsdale and Lindenow (100 and 60 ha) and at Dargo (several properties) in East
Gippsland by Geoff Harman of the Department of Primary Industries in January 2009, much further east than the previously
known range in Gippsland (Harman pers. comm. 12 January 2009).
New South Wales
The development of the invasion in New South Wales is poorly documented in published sources. A substantial contributing
factor has been the absence of a State-wide weed mapping system (Linda Iaconis pers. comm. 2006).
The first known collection of N. neesiana in New South Wales was on the Northern Tablelands at Glen Innes in 1944 (McLaren
et al. 1998) or 1948 (Gardener 1998). Duncan (1993) recorded that it had been widely present in the Guyra – Glen Innes area, in
the northern half of the Tablelands from the 1960s. A major infestation, discovered in 1996 in the Reedy Creek catchment near
Tamworth on the North West Slopes, had an estimated age of 30 years (Cook 1999). Tamworth is off the tablelands, on their
inland, southwestern side. Slay (2001 p. 21) erroneously mentioned a “continuous sward” infestation at Deniliquin, citing
Mulham and Moore (1970), but those authors refer only to Austrostipa spp. Duncan (1993) and Storrie and Lowien (2003) noted
that N. neesiana was thought to have spread very slowly until the late 1970s. According to the map in Gardener (1998) it was
first recorded in the Guyra district in 1968. A herbarium specimen from Bathurst on the Central Tablelands was collected in
1972 (Benson and McDougall 2005), shown in the ARMCANZ et al. (2001) map. It was first recorded in the Sydney area in
1974 (Gardener 1998) a herbarium specimen from Mt Druitt (Benson and McDougall 2005), and at Tenterfield close to the
Queensland border in 1976 (Gardener 1998), both shown in the ARMCANZ et al. (2001) map.
In 1986 Vickery et al. (1986 p. 81) examined material collected at Mt Druitt, Tenterfield and Glen Innes and considered it to be
“now spreading” on the Central Coast and Northern and Southern Tablelands. It was recorded in the Goulburn region in 1985
(Gardener 1998). Specimens from Pendle Hill, Ingleburn and Brush Farm Park in the Central Coast region were collected in
1986 (Benson and McDougall 2005). It was recorded in the Armidale region (Northern Tablelands) in 1990 (Gardener 1998).
Wheeler et al. (1990) added no new information. Jacobs and Everett (1993) reiterated its presence in the four major botanical
divisions of the State already noted (not including the then unknown Tamworth population) and stated that it “grows along
roadsides”. It was not recognised as an environmental weed in NSW by Swarbrick and Skarratt (1994). Carolin and Tindale
(1994) recorded that it was widespread on roadsides in the Sydney region (bounded approximately by Rylstone, Singleton, Nowra
and Taralga). In 1995 it was found in the Coonabarabran region (Gardener 1998).
Gardener et al. (1996a) observed that N. neesiana then dominated large areas of pasture on the Northern Tablelands and was
becoming increasingly common on the Central and Southern Tablelands. Eddy et al. (1998) noted its presence at Bungendore
(Southern Tablelands). By 1998 it had been declared noxious in the New England County (Northern Tablelands), Severn Shire
and Glen Innes Shire (McLaren et al. 1998).
Ens (2002a) collated herbarium and other records and searched for populations on the Cumberland Plain (Sydney region),
finding 16 infested sites, mostly with