More than 30,000 plants are considered native to Australia, and around 84 per cent of these are endemic, growing here and nowhere else at all.
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Unfortunately there are also over 2500 different weed species, with new ones arriving every now and then despite our best efforts with biosecurity.
With so many different leafy wonders to remember it is unsurprising that even the most avid plant fan occasionally comes across something they haven't seen before.
The Weed Management Branch are in the business of helping people tackle weeds on their patch and this means being presented with the occasional UFO.
It is important to have these unidentified found objects given a name as soon as possible in case they are introduced space invaders and not an interesting native plant that belongs here.
Eagle eyed plant fans have recently reported a couple of concerning looking UFO's to the Katherine Weed Management Branch.
Weeds tend to look 'like they don't belong' in our landscape and the UFO's in question really stuck out like a sore thumb!
One plant was a small floating aquatic beastie that had taken over a local waste water treatment plant, the other was one of the most amazingly 'metal' plants I have ever encountered. With huge spikes and fuzzy hair everywhere it looked like it belonged in a Mad Max film!
Discovering the true identity of a UFO can be difficult so it is lucky that the Weed Management Branch can call on the assistance of the botanists at the NT Herbarium.
Samples of our two UFO's were taken and sent to Darwin for official identification. After an exacting process involving sorting through a library of plant samples, winding their way through complex identification keys, and of course searching their collective memories, the Herbarium was able to give us a confirmed identity for both plants.
Luckily for us, neither of our now identified plants was a weed, just a fascinating blip in the landscape.
Keep an eye out when you are out and about. Our UFO's were not weeds but it's always best to be sure. If you find a plant on your patch that doesn't seem like it belongs, take some really good photos of it and email them to the Weed Management Branch at weedinfo@nt.gov.au.
Our popular columnist, Clare Pearce, is a senior district weeds officer with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources here in Katherine.
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