Weeds of Australia - Fact Sheet

Top Scientific Name Family Common Names Origin Naturalised Distribution Notes

Scientific Name

Lepidium bonariense L.

Family

Brassicaceae (Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory).
Cruciferae (South Australia)

Common Names

Argentine cress, Argentine peppercress, Argentine pepperweed, Argentine pepperwort, birdseed, cut-leaf peppercress, cutleaved peppercress, pepper-cress, peppercress, pepperweed

Origin

Native to South America (i.e. Brazil, northern Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay).

Naturalised Distribution

A common and very widely naturalised species that is found throughout the eastern and southern parts of the country. It is most common in southern and central Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT and Victoria. Also naturalised in northern Queensland, south-eastern South Australia, south-western Western Australia, the southern parts of the Northern Territory, on Lord Howe Island and on Norfolk Island.

Notes

Argentine peppercress (Lepidium bonariense) is regarded as an environmental weed in New South Wales and Queensland, and as a minor or potential environmental weed in Victoria, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. This species is a common weed of crops, pastures, lawns, gardens, footpaths, parks, roadsides, disturbed sites and waste areas. It also invades native plant communities, particularly woodlands, riparian areas and wetlands in semi-arid regions.

Argentine peppercress (Lepidium bonariense) is a common exotic species in the semi-arid woodlands of New South Wales. It is also listed as an environmental weed in the wider Sydney and Blue Mountains region and in the Goulburn Broken Catchment in Victoria. It has been recorded in conservation areas in both these states (e.g. in Mount Annan Woodland Conservation Area and Berkeley Nature Reserve in New South Wales and Brisbane Ranges National Park and Terrick Terrick East Nature Conservation Reserve in Victoria).

Argentine peppercress (Lepidium bonariense) is also a weed of riparian vegetation in the Burnett River Catchment in Queensland, a weed of granite rocks vegetation and tuart woodlands from Perth to Albany in south-western Western Australia and a potential weed of arid wetlands in the southern parts of the Northern Territory.