[APWG] NEWS: Yellow starthistle menaces flora, fauna

[Olivia Kwong]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/30/HOEPUKTTJ.DTL
Yellow starthistle menaces flora, fauna
Ron Sullivan, Joe Eaton
Wednesday, January 30, 2008

When you recognize yellow starthistle, Centaurea solstitialis, and you 
learn its history and effects, you can scare yourself half to death 
driving down Interstate 5 in early summer. Those little yellow flowers 
blanket miles of fields.

This pest is familiar along roadsides and "disturbed places" churned up by 
plow, bulldozer or cattle. It has few natural consumers or enemies and it 
seeds profusely - a large plant can produce nearly 75,000 seeds. Its long 
spines are wicked and puncture the eyes and noses of grazers and the skin 
of hikers. It's pure hell to extirpate. Starthistle doesn't like deserts, 
the coast or anywhere above 7,000 feet, but the rest of California suits 
it just fine.

See the link above for the full article text.