Weeds: a brief introduction

Many plants that are now recognised as weeds are incredibly beautiful and it is no wonder they have been used to adorn home gardens. Unfortunately, they can naturalise in the environment once they have escaped and cause many problems. Ornamental species form about two thirds of our environmental weeds. This paper outlines why weeds are a problem, the characteristics that allow weeds to become a problem and provides a brief glimpse of the mode of introduction of weeds to Australia.