This month Brooke introduces us to another tree which is considered an environmental weed in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia often referred to as the Wild Tobacco Tree which originated from Argentina in South America.
Most people are surprised to learn that trees can actually be weeds, but when they are easily reproduced and can grow from 4-10 metres in height, this can result in many native species competing for nutrients and light.
Wild tobacco trees by their very nature, tend to grow in open areas and is tolerant of various soil types, and all parts of the plant are poisonous to humans, especially the berries although birds and some native wildlife tend to tolerate the berries quite well, which can be problematic in other ways once the seeds from the berries are dispersed by them.
The other issue with Wild Tobacco trees is that efforts to remove them can be quite an exercise due to some people being reactive to the fine hairs from the leaves which are irritable to skin, but also become airborne once disturbed and it is recommended that precautions be taken to protect airways and cover as much skin as possible.
Image Credits:
Photos of Tobacco bush flowers and berries: By Vinayaraj – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64234755 and https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64235433
Photo of young trees: By John Tann, Flickr – Own work, CC BY-SA 2.0, Tobacco Bush, Solanum mauritianum, a weed of disturbed sites. Nymboida National Park, NSW, Australia, August 2014
In the meantime, be sure to check out all of Brooke’s other Featured Weeds via the links and slideshow below:
regenaustralia.com.au 
3 Replies to “Weed of the Month: Solanum mauritianum (Wild Tobacco Tree)”