Formosa lily

Lilium formosanum (Liliaceae)

A bulbuous plant with stems up to 2m high and purplish-brown towards the base and usually rough and hairy. The leaves are narrow, dark green and shiny. Narrow funnel-shaped, fragrant white flowers flushed with reddish-purple outside and white inside develop from January to March.


Fountain grass

Pennisetum setaceum (Poaceae)

A sparsely branching, tussock-forming perennial grass with feathery, spike-like inflorescences. The bristles are long and detach with the spikelets. The leaves are up to 40cm long and are not rigid or ending with sharp points. Inflorescence is 10-25cm long and is usually purple or rose-coloured. This widespread grass invades roadsides and disturbed sites.


Four o`clock

Mirabilis jalapa

Four o' clock is a bushy, tender perennial that typically grows tall on erect, branching stems. It is an old garden favorite that features fragrant, funnel-shaped, tubular flowers with five flaring petal-like lobes. Flowers bloom from early/mid-summer to autumn. Flowers open in the late afternoon (around four o'clock) and stay open only until the following morning.


French tamarisk

Tamarix gallica

French tamarisk is a spreading shrub or small tree, with numerous slender branches and small, alternate, scale-like leaves. The pale pink to white flowers are small and regular, and arranged in spike-like racemes. The distinct petals and sepals occur in fours or fives. The fruit is a capsule.


Fringed dodder

Cuscuta suaveolens

Slender, leafless, parasitic plants with yellowish or whitish, twining stems up to 2m high and forming dense patches up to 6m across. Loose clusters of whitish flowers 3-4mm long from November to April. Greenish-yellow fruits.Invades: A wide range of habitats, especially river banks, other moist sites and irrigated crop lands


Fringed watlle

Acacia fimbriata

The fringed wattle is a small tree or shrub that grows up to 7m high. The leaves are undivided, very narrow with a prominent midvein, straight or slightly curved. The leaf margins and branchlets are usually fringed with hairs. It flowers during winter and spring, and pods mature during November-December .


Giant knotweed

Fallopia sachalinensis

Giant knotweed is an aggressive invader, similar to Japanese knotweed. It is a declared noxious weed in South Africa. It forms dense stands that exclude all other vegetation.


Giant milkweed

Calotropis procera

Giant milkweed is a spreading shrub or small tree. Milky sap oozes from any part of the plant which is cut or broken. This sap is toxic to humans and animals.Stems are smooth and pale greyish green. Mature stems have a characteristic beige corrugated bark, cork-like in appearance and texture.


Giant reed

Arundo donax (Poaceae)

A tall and vigorous aquatic reed growing 2-6m high spreading from horizontal rootstocks. Pale green to bluish green leaves and leaf sheaths that are persistent on the stems. Cream or brown, compact, erect, spear-shaped silky inflorescences appear at the tip all year round.


Giant sensitive plant

Mimos diplotricha

The giant sensitive plant is indigenous to Brazil in South America. It is a shrubby or sprawling annual that climbs over other vegetation, behaves as a perennial in favourable conditions and is known to invade pastures, cane fields and crops.