Noxtioius Weed Class

**Noxious Weed Outlines**

We, Tawnya and Colleen, taught Mrs. Davis' kindergarten class about knapweed and Dalmatian toadflax at Whitehall Elementary School. We held a coloring contest and the top 5 pictures are posted. Our outlines are below and they tell just about everything the little ones learned.!!! We learned a lot and so did they.

I. Knapweed

a. Weed- plant that is unwanted

b. Appearance

i. 8-48 inches tall

ii. Stem and leaves are blue/gray

iii. Pink/purple flowers, several flowers per plant

c. Problem

i. Large groups grow in one area

               ii.      Not enough room for other plants to grow
                1. the other plants don't have room to grow and spread so they die. Then animals like deer and elk don't have any food                     to eat.
       iii. Takes over fields and crops.

d. Location

i. Native to Europe
1. Brought over as a garden flower

ii. Grows well in Montana and Northern U.S.

e. Habitat

i. Dry meadows

ii. Fields

iii. Near rivers and streams

f. Perennial-lives more than two years, can live up to nine years if conditions are good

g. Ways of spreading

              i.      Seeds are moved by the wind, animals, and people.
          ii.     Has over 1000 seeds per plant.
                1. The seeds are located in the flower.
                2. The plant dies in the fall of the year and the seeds are spread then

h. Control methods

i. Herbicides-chemicals that kill the plant

ii. Biological control-insects kill the plant, such as weevil.

II. Sites used:

a. http://www.nwcb.wa.gov/weed_info/Centaurea_biebersteinii.html

b. http://www.nps.gov/plants/ALIEN/fact/cebi1.htm

By: Tawnya Gilstrap

Dalmatian Toadflax

I. Introduction

a. Dalmatian toadflax is a noxious weed that was introduced in the 1800’s

b. Can spread very easily in dry land sites

c. Dalmatian toadflax is native to the Mediterranean region while yellow toadflax is from Eurasia

II. Records

a. records show that North Dakota was the first to have Dalmatian Toadflax in the United States

b. Dalmatian Toadflax belongs to the Snapdragon family and can be Identified easily because of there bright yellow tops

c. It is native to the wild land and once again can spread very rapidly

III. Locations

a. this weed can be found just about everywhere, along railroad tracks, highways, and transportation/ communication lines

b. anywhere livestock is brought into the state

c. Dalmatian toadflax has only been reported as small patches in a few counties, generally in the western part of North Dakota

IV. Prevention

a. Herbicides can be effective but require repeated treatments at high rates

b. Burning is not effective because soil temperatures do not get high enough to kill the roots

c. Once the weeds roots are in the ground it is very hard to control the spread and its hard to prevent it

V. Growth Cycle

a. First the roots-

b. The in the summer {late June} the weed blooms a bright yellow leaf

c. The flower produces seeds; one plant can have up to 500,000 seeds--- The seed is disk-shaped 0.08 inch diameter

d. When the wind picks up the seeds are blown to different areas

e. The roots of the plants extend 10 ft. into the ground

       VI.      More information
              a. It is a perennial
              b. The weed is found in 22 United states and is found along some Canadian provinces.
              c. Dalmatian Toadflax can be a major competitor, meaning it can reduce the amount of grass in the area.

d. Dalmatian Toadflax is a close relative to Yellow Toadflax

By: Colleen Henderson

*most of the information above was off of this website: http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/weeds/w1239w.htm

http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/biocontrol/weedfeeders/toadflax.html

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knapweed drawings:

**Pictures are done by: Darby, Alexia, Jay, Megan and Jacy

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