Winter heliotrope

[David Crook]

There has been a lot of talk on the Moor Meadows email exchange about the Winter Winter heliotrope so I thought I would post some of the information here:

This was the original posting:
This plant (Winter Heliotrope) has been spreading all along the road verge of Orley Common, near to our property. I was advised Teignbridge would be spraying it to eradicate it a long time ago, but it has been overlooked, probably because it is away from the main section of the common being managed, and now covers a huge area. It is gradually smothering everything and I am very anxious, because large areas of this lower common have now been cleared as result of Ash Die back, and the likely result is that the plant will spread into the landmass. At the moment, although it ingresses the woodland for about 6/12 feet, because it is on the edge of where the trees were, it can be accessed. It has spread a considerable distance down the road towards Torbryan, crossed the road and I have now seen there is a large area covering a wild part of our land which abuts the road. All the natural plants have disappeared. Today, when visiting the footpath to Torbryan Old Rectory at the other end of the village, I saw the access gate area is smothered in it. The common is special and is well managed for its diversity of plants. This area would normally be full of primroses, wood anemones and bluebells and wild garlic, to name but a few species. However, before I approach Teignbridge, I should like to be able to name the plant and reference ways of eradicating it without too much damage to the environment.

First response was:
Winter heliotrope I believe - very similar to butterbur - its grown as ground cover in gardens. See Winter-Heliotrope-DISI-Species-Factsheet.pdf (naturaldevon.org.uk)

quote from above...
Winter heliotrope is a proliferous, hardy, herbaceous species normally grown for ground cover gardens and often for its attractive, strong scented winter flowers that appear between November and january. It produces large, bright green roundish leaves up to 30cm in diameter. The leaves have a slightly serrated edge and are held up by straight, rounded, hairy, purplish stalks that arise from underground stems. This plant can be mistaken with butterbur (Petasites hybridus) and colt’s foot (Tussilago farfara), though both species flower in the spring rather than winter.

Another user said:
A useful fact sheet - particularly reminding us to be careful about disposing of small pieces of rhizome that can carry on growing; but it repeats the common myth that you need to use weedkillers because cutting can't eradicate invasive perennials. This simply isn't true, as is obvious when you look at lawns: very few plants can cope with weekly cutting in summer. Bracken stops at lawn edges and makes no headway. Even Japanese knotweed. I managed a site in Portsmouth which had three patches of Japanese knotweed, the largest several metres across. One spraying reduced it; then weekly pulling/cutting every shoot for a couple of years and it was gone. Persistence is the key. You can't afford to leave a few shoots because they are hard to get at - you need to get them all .... if the shoots are down a crack, fill the crack with soil and cut the shoots at the new ground surface (this works with black bindweed in rockeries). Don't leave a few shoots because you are trying to protect another plant: deal with the shoots even if you need to move the other plant.

Another user said:
We keep it more or less contained, but it spreads if given the chance. It propagates by stolon, so is very hard to eradicate — all but impossible. Spraying does not finish it off, in our past experience (we don’t do it any more), so I would not ask Teignbridge to do that. Constantly cutting it back contains it. For example, it does not establish on lawns, because these are frequently mowed. Shading also keeps it at bay, though I have noticed an increase under some of our shrubs.

Another person said:
Horticulturists have a lot to answer for!
Winter heliotrope has a fleshy underground stem which, acting as a storage organ, enables it to grow rapidly in a mild winter and early spring. The leaves are not frost hardy so it may be spreading more encouraged by global warming.
Up to the 1960's local flower growers used the leaves as a cuff around posies of violets and polyanthus.
Unfortunately controlling it with a herbicide would eradicate any surviving native plants.