Weeds of Australia - Fact Sheet

Top Scientific Name Synonyms Family Common Names Origin Naturalised Distribution Environmental Impact Notes

Scientific Name

Tridax procumbens L.

Synonyms

 

Family

Asteraceae (New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory)
Compositae (South Australia)

Common Names

coat buttons, coatbuttons, Mexican daisy, tridax, tridax daisy, wild daisy

Origin

Native to Mexico, Central America (i.e. Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua) and tropical South America (i.e. Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru).

Naturalised Distribution

Widely naturalised in northern and eastern Australia (i.e. throughout large parts of Queensland, in far north-eastern New South Wales, in the northern and central parts of the Northern Territory, and in Western Australia). Also naturalised on Christmas Island, the Cocos Islands and the Coral Sea Islands.

Naturalised elsewhere in the tropical regions of the world, including in south-eastern USA (i.e. Florida), Africa (e.g. Zimbabwe), south-eastern Asia (i.e. Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), and on numerous Pacific islands (e.g. the Galápagos Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, Palau, Western Samoa, the Solomon Islands and Hawaii).

Environmental Impact

 

Notes

Tridax daisy (Tridax procumbens) is regarded as an environmental weed in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland.