Saturday September 12, 2009, 5:21 pm
“We are initiating a one-year study to see if it would be feasible to control one and two-leaf Cape tulips (Moraea flaccida and M. miniata) using the rust fungus Puccinia moraeae as a biological control agent,” CSIRO Entomology’s Dr John Scott said.

“Dr Louise Morin, our experienced plant pathologist, will be testing various rust isolates to see how pathogenic they are on Cape tulips occurring in Australia as well as testing them on a few key closely-related, non-target plant species.

“We are initiating a one-year study to see if it would be feasible to control one and two-leaf Cape tulips (Moraea flaccida and M. miniata) using the rust fungus Puccinia moraeae as a biological control agent,” CSIRO Entomology’s Dr John Scott said.

“The tests will be conducted in the AQIS-accredited CSIRO Black Mountain Containment Facility in Canberra.”

Dr Scott said Cape tulips appear to be suitable targets for biological control because there are only a few close relatives among Australian native species and no related crops.

The logical place to look for possible biological control agents for Cape tulips was their home range, South Africa. Earlier CSIRO surveys there identified three potential biological control agents, of which the rust appears the most promising.

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Saturday September 12, 2009, 5:22 pm
I'm apprehensive about introducing any kind of mould or fungus from outside it's natural environment. This does not sound like a very great idea to me.

Sunday September 13, 2009, 4:04 pm
Invasive plants are always major problems in the new ecosystem to which they are introduced. They are usually introduced through human vanity in gardens and then escape to wreak havoc in the new ecosystem where they have no natural enemy. In all of the states in the northern half of the United States and extreme southern Canada the purple loosestrife is killing off the native wetland plants. Purple loosestrife has no nutritional value for herbivore fishes and water plant eating mammals. This invasive plant in the infected regions could lead to the extinction of such beautiful mammals as the moose.