False tamarisk changes the natural environment of stony riverbeds. It reduces the habitat available for birds to nest in braided riverbeds and provides cover for their predators. While it can stabilise riverbeds, this pest significantly impacts the natural flow of rivers by colonising sparsely vegetated areas, forming dense bushes with deep roots.

False tamarisk spreads via small, fluffy seeds dispersed by wind and water. It can also regenerate from stem and root fragments, which may be transported by vehicles passing through riverbeds and carrying sand, mud or plant material.

False tamarisk has not been reported in Otago.

• Size: False tamarisk is a shrub that sheds its leaves every year and can grow up to 1.5 metres tall.

• Leaves: Small, bluish-green, triangular leaves on upright branches. The shape of its leaves gives it a conifer-like appearance.

• Flowers: Small pink flowers grow in clusters at the ends of its branches from January, followed by small grey seed capsules in February and March.

• Root system: Older plants can have extensive root systems, making them very difficult to pull from the ground.

• Habitat: False tamarisk thrives on riparian margins and braided riverbeds and is found on stony, muddy and sandy damp sites alongside river channels.

False tamarisk is easiest to spot from January to March when in flower.

To prevent the establishment of false tamarisk in Otago and its negative environmental and economic effects, it is in the exclusion programme of the Otago Regional Pest Management Plan (2019–2029).

False tamarisk is declared an unwanted organism in the National Pest Plant Accord (NPPA). Any species declared a pest under the NPPA cannot be sold or be in a place where plants are being sold. Pest plants cannot be propagated, bred, multiplied, communicated, released, caused to be released, or otherwise spread.

www.orc.govt.nz/falsetamarisk