What does it look like?
Cotton thistle is a prickly biennial thistle standing up to 3m tall and 1.5m wide. It has spiny grey, velvety leaves and stems covered with white cottony hairs. The flowers are dark pink, lavender or purple, globe shaped and 2.5-6cm in diameter.
Why is it a problem?
Cotton thistle forms large stands which are impenetrable to stock and so pasture is displaced. Plants are drought resistant and can spread rapidly as seeds are primarily dispersed by wind. Seed heads can become entangled in wool and fibre, devaluing fleeces and injuring those handling stock and fleece.
Control methods
Contact us at biosecurity@hbrc.govt.nz if you believe you have sighted Cotton Thistle on your property for best advice on control methods.
More information
Cotton Thistle is a Progressive Containment pest under the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council Regional Pest Management Plan 2018 – 2038 and is subject to Plan Rule 5.
Related links
Notify Council
If you think you've found this pest, please get in touch with our Biosecurity Team at biosecurity@hbrc.govt.nz or call us on 0800 108 838.
Management Programme
Progressive Containment Programme
There are a number of pests that are well established in the Hawke’s Bay region but their present infestation levels are still low enough for those levels to be reduced region-wide through a progressive containment programme. Progressive Containment programmes have the less specific aim of reducing levels of infestation within their respective management zones. While the general intent is to reduce these infestations to zero-levels at some time into the future, the primary focus of a progressive containment programme is to preventing a pest from spreading. For well-established pests whose harmful effects and spread can still be reduced, progressive containment offers the best ratio of cost to benefits.
The goal is to maintain a pest population at the lowest feasible level and confine it to a particular area while reducing numbers over time. In some cases this will result in fewer sites infested or in others the overall density of the pest will reduce over a 10 year duration period. Containment programmes usually target habitats of high ecological value that require protection and restoration.
Rules
Plan Rule 5
Except where an occupier of land has entered into a Written Management Agreement approved by Hawke's Bay Regional Council, an occupier of land shall;
a) destroy all apple of Sodom, Australian sedge, cotton thistle, Darwin's barberry, nassella tussock, saffron thistle, velvetleaf, and woolly nightshade plants on their land
b) destroy all Japanise honeysuckle plants on their land within the defined containment area
c) destroy all old man's beard plants on their land within the Kaweka and Ruahine Ranges buffer area and containment area.
Taxonomies
TypePlants
GroupPerennial
HabitatLand
Management ProgrammeProgressive Containment Programme
RulesPlan Rule 5
