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3 unusual facts about Echium plantagineum in Australia


Echium plantagineum in Australia

It is said that both names for the plant derive from Jane Paterson or Patterson, an early settler of the country near Albury.

The Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has carried out research on numerous classical biological control solutions, and of the 100-odd insects found feeding on Paterson's Curse in the Mediterranean, judged six safe to release in Australia without endangering crops or native plants.

The leaf-mining moth Dialectica scalariella the crown weevil Mogulones larvatus, root weevil Mogulones geographicus and the flea beetle Longitarsus echii are now currently widely distributed in southern Australia and can be found easily on most large Paterson's curse plants encountered.



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