I am the first to admit that the backyard is a bit overgrown. No real surprise when something unusual appeared in a concrete planter mainly used these days for sprinkling a bit of birdseed. This is provisionally (please
correct as necessary) IDed as Datura stramonium aka Common Thornapple or Jimsonweed, although the capsule doesn’t look quite right. The ever-helpful Canberra Naturmap tells me that this has been reported at various spots around Canberra, as shown in a detailed
map in the Atlas of Living Australia. Quite common, then, but a possible first record for the street. Not a lot locally about whether birds should be eating it. Looking at what people say about it elsewhere, I find that the species is both (a) spread by
birds and (b) incorporated in commercial birdseed. My guess is that the latter route gave rise to the botanical happening in the backyard, those particular seeds being pushed to one side by the discerning bird life of Upper Narrabundah. In the illustration
I have chosen for the growing plant a graphic effect labelled ‘Happy Little Trees’. Having been warned about its properties, I shall look for a pair of gloves to wear when consigning it to the next Green Bin.
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