Common Australian Garden Weeds

Soliva pterosperma

Scientific name: Soliva pterosperma (Juss.) Less.


Habit of mature bindy eye (Soliva pterosperma) plant with brownish clusters of spined seeds (bindies).


A young bindy eye plant with highly dissected leaves.

Synonyms: Gymnostyles pterosperma Juss.; Soliva sessilis auct. Aust. non Ruiz & Peron

Common name: Bindy eye, jo jo weed

Family: Asteraceae

Origin:

Native of South America.

Habit:

Small annual herb which forms a ground cover. A rosette of leaves develops at first, then a number of prostrate stems up to 8 cm long are produced which can develop into additional rosettes.

Habitat:

Common weed of lawns and pastures, prefers damp, shady positions.

General description:

Stems and leaves
Leaves have stalks (petioles) up to 2 cm long and blades that are deeply divided (like carrot leaves) and 1-2 cm x 0.6-1 cm in size. The first leaves are arranged in a rosette, the leaves which form on the prostrate stems are alternate. The shoots from the prostrate stems develop into rosettes and so on, forming a low ground cover. Plants are covered in soft hairs.
Flowers and fruit
The flower-heads are roughly hemispherical, 3-5 mm across when seeds are mature. Seeds are 3 mm long with 2 bi-lobed wings along their length and two spines (one of these is especially sharp) at one end. The flowering season is from autumn to winter and the fruit are mature in spring and summer.

Distinguishing features:

Low growing annual herb developing a rosette of deeply divided leaves, and short prostrate stems which produce offsets. Soliva pterosperma (bindy eye) is very similar to Soliva anthemifolia (dwarf jo jo weed) but only Soliva pterosperma forms offsets on its prostrate stems. In spring and summer the presence of the fruit/seeds (that is the 'bindies') make distinguishing the two species easy since the fruit/seeds of Soliva anthemifolia do not have the sharp spines of the familiar bindy eye.

Noxious status:

Not noxious.

Sources:

Kleinschmidt, H.E., Holland, A. and Simpson, P. (1996). Suburban Weeds. 3rd Edition. Department of Primary Industries, Brisbane.

Stanley, T.E. and Ross, E.M. (1983-1989). Flora of South-eastern Queensland. Volume 2. Department of Primary Industries, Brisbane.

Auld, B.A. and Medd, R.W. (1996). Weeds: An Illustrated Guide to the Weeds of Australia. Inkata Press, Sydney.