South African Boxthorn is a highly invasive plant, imported into Australia, around the 1880s. The purpose was to provide hedgerows for land demarkaction.
The plant, however, because of it’s evasive properties, had other ideas, and quickly spread out beyond the intended purpose.
Like many of the ‘imports’ into Australia, such as rabbits, foxes, prickly pear, cats, deer and a host of other unmentionables, (including land-lice—first nations word for sheep), and South African Boneseed, whatever the intended and seemingly harmless (insert profit here) reason, the pests became feral and are now for all intents and purposes beyond complete eradication.
Boxthorn has a fruit that starts out green but ripens to a rich red/orange. Each fruit can contain as many as 70 or more seeds, each capable of germination. Given a two metre high plant can contain thousands of the little red invaders, it’s not hard to see how it was able to get away from control. Add to that, it is quite capable of sprouting from a broken, or cut twig, or branch, and the problem simply gets larger.
Early attempts to simply plough them back into the ground, just gave them the space needed to spread even further.
Poisons work, as does cutting them down, stacking them to air dry, and treating the roots. All of which adds up to hard work, and while effective, like dealing with another feral, like Boneseed, needs constant attention.
So in lots of places, by the roadside, in open bush land and forest, the plant just carries on its merry way.
Nearby to us is a small abandoned piece of roadway and some open paddock. It has several stands of boxthorn. At present the plants are in fruit, and a number of local birds have added the berries to their diet. Cockatoos, some parrots and honeyeaters make the most of the offering, and of course, either drop the seeds, or carry them to be deposited when they excrete else where.
Two birds I’ve never seen on boxthorn before are Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes, and Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters. However for some reason, the nomad honeyeaters and the Cuckoo-shrikes have been very busy in the small area, and over a matter of a week or so have practically stripped the plants of fruit.
Round one to the Boxthorn.
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