Rosemary
A Google search shows NSW DPI believes Chinese pistachio is spread by birds. Also ACT Govt recognises it as a ‘garden escape species which has the potential
to escape if not unchecked’. It is listed in the ACT’s ‘Are your plants going bush?’ brochure as ‘a plant which is not a major problem ..at the moment....but it is recommended these plants are treated with caution’. Hence that explains its WEED SWAP status.
I also note that reference to ‘Trees and Shrubs in Canberra’ (Pryor and Banks) reveals that historically speaking,
Pistachio chinensis has been extensively planted as a street tree throughout Canberra.
Rgds,
Ian Baird
| Senior Policy Officer
Phone: +61 2 6207 2336
Nature Conservation Policy
| Environment and Planning Directorate |
ACT Government
Level 1 North, Dame Pattie Menzies House, 16 Challis Street DICKSON | GPO Box 158 CANBERRA ACT 2601 |
www.environment.gov.au
From: Rosemary Blemings [
Sent: Wednesday, 28 January 2015 5:36 PM
To: Baird, Ian
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Chinese pistachio feeding frenzy
Ian,
Is it known whether these fruits are actually destroyed when eaten by these species?
To us it would seem they're unripe and unpalatable. It would be good to think the fruits were too immature to be a threat to the 'bush' but I suspect that's a naive hope.
The Chinese pistachio qualifies as a WEED SWAP target species but there are thousands of them around. Alas by autumn they will be too "pretty" for owners to contemplate removing even the female trees.
On 28/01/2015, at 2:22 PM, Baird, Ian wrote:
Next doors’ tree now has fruit ripe enough to attract parrots and a cockatoos. Yesterday evening, in the space of 45 minutes or so, 4 spp. were observed feeding in the one
tree: Gang-gangs (3), King-parrots (4); Crimson Rosellas (5+) and Sulphur-crested Cockatoos (2) – although the latter did not start feeding until the Gang-gangs had left. There were at least 5 Gang-gangs in total, including 2 immatures. The immatures were
apparently roosting nearby in eucalypt trees waiting to be fed by the adults. One of the pair was seen ‘begging for food from an adult female perched alongside- although I can’t be sure that actual food was transferred!
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