Weeds of Australia - Fact Sheet

Top Scientific Name Family Common Names Origin Naturalised Distribution Notes

Scientific Name

Crotalaria goreensis Guill. & Perr.

Family

Fabaceae (Queensland, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania and the Northern Territory)
Fabaceae: sub-family Faboideae (New South Wales)
Leguminosae (South Australia)
Papilionaceae (Western Australia)

Common Names

gamba pea, gamba-pea, Gambia pea, rattlepod

Origin

Native to tropical Africa (i.e. Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, the Gambia, Togo, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia and Zimbabwe).

Naturalised Distribution

Widely naturalised in northern and eastern Australia (i.e. in northern Western Australia, the northern parts of the Northern Territory, northern and eastern Queensland and the coastal districts of northern New South Wales).

Naturalised overseas in Madagascar, Asia (i.e. India, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea) and South America (i.e. Brazil, French Guiana and Guyana).

Notes

This short-lived (i.e. annual) species was originally introduced as a green manure crop. It is now regarded as an environmental weed in northern Australia (i.e. northern Queensland, the Northern Territory and northern Western Australia) where it can form dense stands in natural communities.

Gambia pea (Crotalaria goreensis) invades disturbed open woodlands, grasslands, floodplains and river banks and can prevent the regeneration of native species in these habitats.