Pitanga

Eugenia uniflora (Myrtaceae)

An evergreen compact shrub or small tree 3-10m high. Dark green leaves that are shiny above and pale beneath. White, slightly fragrant flowers appear from June to July. Yellow fruits which turn deep crimson when ripe. This tree invades coastal bush, forest edges and understorey, river banks and urban open spaces.


Pokeweed

Phytolacca americana

Pokeweed is a herb that is native to eastern North America and cultivated around the world. It contains chemical substances such as phytolaccine, tannin and formic acid. All parts of the plant are poisonous when eaten, however the root is the most toxic.


Pompom weed

Eupatorium macrocephalum (=Campuloclinium macrocephalum) (Asteraceae)

The pompom weed is an erect perennial with green stems up to 1,3m high. It dies back annually to a root crown. Pink flowerheads surrounded by purple bracts in compact heads appear from December to March. This plant is native to Central and South America.


Port Jacksons willow

Acacia saligna (Fabaceae)

An evergreen tree, growing 3-7m high, with blue-green turning bright green leaves. Bright yellow, globe-shaped flowers bloom from August to November. Brown pods with hardened, whitish margins.


Potato creeper

Solanum seaforthianum (Solanaceae)

A slender herbaceous or woody climber growing 2-3m high with bright green leaves that are thinly textured and deeply lobed into leaflets. Showy blue to purple flowers in long drooping clusters bloom from December to March. Small, shiny berries 5-10mm across, green turning red. Fruits, leaves and stems are poisonous.


Prickly malvastrum

Malvastrum coromandelianum

Prickly malvastrumis an upright so-woody or sub-shrub plant. The main stem is straight and hairy. The leaves are alternate, simple, elongated, slightly hairy at 4 points associated in pairs, and strongly toothed. The flowers are solitary or in small groups in terminal position or at the base of the leaves.


Purple loosestrife

Lythrum salicaria (Lythraceae)

An erect, hairy perennial up to 2m high with stout stems. Stalkless leaves growing right from the upright stem and mostly opposite. Showy spikes of rose-purple flowers which appear in summer.


Purple pampas grass

Cortaderia jubata (Poaceae)

Vigorous, tussock grass up to 3m in diameter, with flowering stalks up to 3m high. Bright green long leaves with rough margins. Yellowish or purple, feathery flowers appear from November to February. This grass invades open grassland, roadsides, riverbanks and wasteland


Queen of the night

Cereus jamacaru - Cereus hexagonus complex

What is known in South Africa as queen of the night cactus is probably not a single species, but a complex of various closely-related species and subspecies that are difficult to distinguish, including Cereus jamacaru, C. hildmannianus and C. hexagonus. The group is often referred to as the Cereus hexagonus complex , which is indigenous to South America and the Caribbean.

Queen of the night is a treelike cactus that grows like a candelabrum with a short thick trunk from the top of which it sends out cylindrical shoots which as soon as they have room rise straight upwards in fluted pillars up to 15 metres height Such a plant with pillars rising side by side and almost touching one another has a curious resemblance to an organ with its pipes and thence its name organo. It forms a trunk 30-40 cm in diameter usually branching near the base


Queensland umbrella tree

Schefflera actinophylla

The Queensland umbrella is a multi-stemmed tree growing up to 10m tall that occasionally grows as an epiphyte. The very large compound leaves are umbrella-like, with several glossy leaflets radiating from the same point. Small red flowers are borne in very large, branched flower clusters at the top of the plant. The small fruits turn dark red or dark purple as they mature.