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Home > Don't just hike > Flora-bad > Bug Weed

Do kill this bug ...
Bug Weed
The bad group are those trees and plants which have been imported into South Africa and which simply do not know how to behave in our environment.  Also known as aliens.

Check out the Department of Agriculture list of aliens.
Link: Department of Agriculture


The Bug Weed is particularly bad in the Natal Midlands but is increasingly becoming a problem in the Magaliesberg. 
 
Latin name
IncrSolanu mauritianum
 
Common name
 
Bug weed or luisboom
 
Location
 
KwaZulu Natal, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Northern Province
 
Description
 
Leaves large (25cm long x 10cm wide) dull green and velvety above, white and felty beneath.  Strong smell when bruised.
Flowers (all year) compact, purple terminal clusters on dense felty stalks.
Fruits (all year) 10mm berries in compact clusters.  Green turning yellow.  Dispersed by birds and bats
 
Edible
 
Not edible, unripe fruits are poisonous.
 
Irritant
 
Hairy leaves and stems are an irritant to the respiratory tract and skin
 
Invader
 
Forest margins, plantations, savanna, roadsides, watercourses, urban open spaces.
 
Status
 
Invader 1 – prohibited and must be controlled
 
Note: The indigenous selanum Gigantum bark is covered in short spines.