Noogoora bur

Noogoora bur is an annual herb, around 2.5m tall with a shallow taproot. It is poisonous to livestock and its hooked burs can cause sores in livestock mouths and hooves.

Description

• Stems are blotchy purple and hairy.
• Leaves are large and serrated, with dark green tops and pale green undersides.
• Flowers are small and yellow in mid-summer to early autumn.
• Burs (fruits) are small, hard, start green but become brown, woody and hooked.
• Seeds are dispersed by water and attachment to animal pelts.
• Human-mediated dispersal through contamination of clothes, machinery, soil and seed.
• Habitats include pastures, croplands, plantations, wastelands, and disturbed or open sites.

What you need to know

Nuisance pest of pasture and crops, especially maize. Can cause wool downgrading or rejection. Poisonous to livestock and hooked burs cause sores in livestock mouths and hooves.

Management approach

This is a declared pest managed under the Canterbury Regional Management Plan 2018 – 2038 (PDF file, 10.6MB) within the exclusion programme.

Exclusion

Pests in the exclusion programme are not known to be established in Waitaha/Canterbury. If these pests were to become widely established, their impacts could be severe.

Therefore, early intervention by preventing their establishment is a cost-effective management approach.

The community should make us aware of any noogoora bur plants in Waitaha/Canterbury. We will work with affected landowners to undertake control of noogoora bur.

Rules

Any species declared a pest cannot be sold or be in a place where plants are being sold. Pest plants cannot be propagated, bred, multiplied, communicated, released, caused to be released, or otherwise spread.

Control

Do not attempt to undertake control of noogoora bur yourself. Report any sightings to us.