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Green Cestrum
Botanical name: Cestrum parqui
Noxious Weed Category: Class 3
Green Cestrum Regional Management Plan
Special note: Highly poisonous to livestock, particularly cattle, and can be toxic to humans.
Photo: Adam Burrowes
Description
Imported as an ornamental plant from South America, Green Cestrum is an upright straggly woody perennial shrub 2-3 metres tall with one or more brittle green stems. Found on hind-dunes, river banks and in urban areas.
Light green leaves are alternate and shiny green to 12cm long, giving off a foul rubbery smell when crushed. Sprays of small tubular yellow-green flowers approximately 2.5cm long on end of stems, flowering from late spring to autumn. Shiny black, egg-shaped berries in clusters.
Dispersal
Green Cestrum is highly attractive to birds, and seedlings are often found growing under perching trees, along fencelines and on creekbanks. It is also dispersed by water.
Impact on bushland
Spread by birds, it invades gardens and bushland. It has a deep and persistent taproot.
Control
Manual:
- Eradication is difficult as the plant suckers if the stems are cut without first poisoning the rootstock.
- Scrape and paint stems with a neat glyphosate-based product.
See Manual Weed Control Techniques.
Chemical: Please contact your local control authority for advice on chemical control.
Similar species
Cestrum aurantiacum is an orange coloured form, which is also a weed problem along the coast.