Peanut butter cassia

Senna didymobotrya (Fabaceae)

An evergreen, rounded shrub or small tree reaching up to 3m high. The young shoots are softly downy and 5cm long. Bright yellow flowers form in upright racemes. Green seed pods are downy, soft and flattened and turn dark brown. This senna has poisonous leaves.


Pearl acacia

Acacia podalyriifolia (Fabaceae)

A small evergreen shrub or tree growing 3-6m high, with silvery-grey to dull green, oval, velvety leaves. New growth is covered in greyish, powdery layer and densely velvety hairs. Flowers are bright yellow, spherical and appear in long, showy sprays from June to August. Greyish brown, velvety seed pods are usually 30-80 mm long and 15-20mm wide. 


Peppertree wattle

Acacia elata (Fabaceae)

A large, oval shaped evergreen tree up to 20m high, origination from Australia. Pale yellow or cream globe-shaped flowers flower heads in large sprays appear in October to December and produce 4-17cm long seed pods. Leaves are dark green and glossy. Peppertree wattle invades fynbos, forest clearings and urban open spaces.


Pereskia

Pereskia aculeata (Cactaceae)

A spiny, clambering vine with long slender branches, growing 2-10m or higher and superficially resembling a bougainvillea. The young stems and leaves are semi-succulent with pairs of short, hooked spines in the leaf axils. The older stems are woody with clusters of hard, straight spines 30-40mm long. Bright green to yellowish, lance-shaped leaves. White, cream or yellow flowers appear from March-July and are lemon-scented, followed by succulent berries about 20mm across which are initially green then turn yellow. It invades forest margins, clearings and plantations.


Pest pear of Australia

Opuntia stricta

Pest pear of Australia is an upright (erect) or spreading fleshy shrub usually growing 50-100cm tall, but occasionally reaching 2m in height. The species is known to invade rocky slopes and river banks as well as degraded areas in grasslands and woodlands.


Physic nut

Jatropha curcas

This deciduous shrub or small tree grows 2-6m high and has light brown to grey-green bark. The physic nut is not a particularly aggressive weed and tends to spread relatively slowly. However, it is drought resistant and will grow under a wide range of climatic and soil conditions. The fresh seeds are highly poisonous to humans, especially to children, and can be mistaken for peanuts. 


Pickerel weed

Pontederia cordata (Pontederiaceae)

A rooted aquatic perennial up to 2m high with erect, emergent stems and horizontal rhizomes. Light or yellowish-green, heart-shaped leaves, one per stem. Blue flowers in spikes 5-15cm long with the upper petal having a yellow blotch in the centre, appear from September to June. Ii invades river banks, drainage lines and irrigated cane fields


Pine cone cactus

Tephrocactus articulatus

Pine cone cactus is a species of cactus in the subfamily Opuntioideae of the Cactaceae family of plants. It grows branches up to one foot tall with white flowers. It invades dry and seasonal watercourses, drainage lines and disturbed sites around human habitation.


Pink snakeweed

Stachytarpheta mutabilis

This species is a perennial herb or subshrub generally growing 10-20cm tall, sometimes reaching 0.5m. This species sometimes escapes cultivation and becomes established in the wild. It can become weed-like, growing in disturbed habitats such as pastures and roadsides.


Pink tamarisk

Tamarix ramosissima

Evergreen shrub or tree 3-6m high with reddish-brown bark and feathery branches. Deep green, greyish or bluish-green leaves are minute and scale-like. Flowers are pale to purplish-pink in clusters 15-70mm long at the end of thin, long twigs. Fruits are papery capsules 3-4mm long.