The latest research has found that 73% of vegetation in KZN consists of Alien Invasive Plants (AIPs) and that these plants use approximately 37% of our ground water.
Not only does this loss of water contribute to our general water woes – nationally, the impacts of invasive alien plants on surface water runoff are estimated to take up 1.44 –2.44 billion m3 of water per year (www.link.springer.com) – but low water levels also increase the risk of fires and severely threaten biodiversity.
A couple of weeks back, we brought your attention to the prevalence of Mexican sunflowers on the South Coast. This week, we focus on Montanoa hibiscifolia (Asteraceae), also known as the Tree daisy in English and ubhongbhongo in isiZulu.
Tree daisy plants are very easy to spot in our area at the moment – the large bushes with white flowers are flourishing on most verges and other areas where the ground has been disturbed. Although tree daisies provide a pretty show, they pose great risks to our indigenous vegetation and the wildlife that depends on indigenous plants for habitat and food. They take over completely, by shading out indigenous plants, taking up a lot of water and spreading quickly. This is why property owners are obliged by law to remove tree daisies, which are categorised as Class 1 invasive aliens. The flowers will soon go to seed, heralding even worse infestations next year unless they are removed.
Montanoa is relatively easy to pull out by the roots, especially after rain and while the plants are still little. Just chopping the stems doesn’t really help, as the roots keep growing and eventually need to removed with pickaxes. If you remove Montanoa from your property or pavement, please store it in a separate area to dry out and add it to your compost once it’s completely dead. Many indigenous plants will grow well where Montanoa has been removed, including the indigenous yellow daisy bush (Euryops pectinatus), African daisies, gazanias, agapanthus, aloes and marigolds, bauhinia, coral trees (erythrina) and indigenous grasses.
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