Weeds of Australia - Fact Sheet

Top Scientific Name Family Common Names Origin Naturalised Distribution Notes

Scientific Name

Leucojum aestivum L.

Family

Amaryllidaceae (New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia)
Liliaceae (Victoria)

Common Names

Devon snowflake, Loddon lily, snow flake, snowflake, snowflake lily, snowflakes, St Agnew flower, St George's violet, summer snowflake

Origin

Native to Europe (i.e. Ireland, the UK, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Yugoslavia and southern Ukraine) and western Asia (i.e. northern Iran, northern Turkey and southern Russia).

Naturalised Distribution

Naturalised in some parts of southern Australia (i.e. in the coastal districts of central New South Wales, in southern and western Victoria, in south-eastern and eastern South Australia and in south-western Western Australia.

Naturalised overseas in many parts of eastern and western USA.

Notes

Snowflake (Leucojum aestivum) is regarded as an environmental weed in South Australia and Western Australia. It is listed as a common environmental weed in the Adelaide region, where it is mainly found growing in hilly areas, and has also been recorded in conservation areas in south-eastern South Australia (e.g. Sturt Gorge Recreation Park and Scott Creek Conservation Park).

In Western Australia, snowflake (Leucojum aestivum) is mainly found growing in winter-wet sandy habitats and in other moist areas near settlements between Perth and Bunbury. For example, it has been identified as priority species for control in native vegetation along the Capel River. Snowflake (Leucojum aestivum) has also been recorded growing in Morwell National Park, in southern Victoria, and sometimes persists around old homesteads and near habitation in the Sydney region, in New South Wales.