RED CESTRUM

Cestrum elegans

REPORT THIS WEED (02) 6623 3800 ERADICATE THIS WEED

Description Shrub, typically 1–3 m tall, with showy red flowers. Young stems and leaves densely covered in reddish to purplish hairs.

Leaves Alternate, simple, ovate, elliptic or somewhat elongated, 7–11.5 cm long, on stalks 5–15 mm long, with entire margins and pointed tips.

Flowers Tubular, reddish, 1.5–2.3 cm long, with five green sepals fused at the base of the tube. Occur in dense branched clusters at the tip of branches in upper leaf forks.

Fruit Round green berry, 8–13 mm wide, ripening to dark pink or dull red.

Dispersal Seed dispersed by waterways, birds eating and excreting the seed and dumped garden waste.

Confused with Weed species Green cestrum (Cestrum parqui), Lady-of-the-night (C. nocturnum) and Orange cestrum (C. aurantiacum).

Control Contact your local Rous County Council Weed Biosecurity Officer for control advice and disposal. Wear appropriate PPE when handling this weed. Manually remove young plants. Foliar spray or cut and paint with herbicide.

FOLIAGE CONTAINS CARBOXYPARQUIN AND PARQUIN TOXINS WHICH ARE TOXIC TO LIVESTOCK AND HIGHLY TOXIC TO CATTLE. HAS CAUSED CATTLE DEATHS. ALSO CONSIDERED TOXIC PETS, NATIVE ANIMALS AND HUMANS.