Environmental weeds

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Environmental weeds (enviroweeds) invade bushland and natural areas. They compete with native plants for sunlight, soil nutrients and water. They reduce biodiversity and are a threat to the native species which would otherwise be living there. Examples of enviroweeds are bridal creeper, bitou bush, boneseed, blackberry and lantana.

Even some Australian native plants are enviroweeds in areas outside their normal range, for example, sweet pittosporum, Cootamundra wattle and coast wattle.

In waterways weeds are especially a nuisance as they can destroy the life of a waterway by using up all the oxygen during the night, leading to fish kills. Some weeds make it impossible to swim in or drink water.