Using the site VicVeg, with a narrowing to the Corrangamite region, and a search on medium herbs, I eventually worked out the weed in our back yard is Jersey Cudweed – a native plant.

This weed looked similar to plants I had seen growing around the dam, and when I photographed it using the Macro lens, the flowers had that papery quality associated with Everlasting daisies. It is classified in the Asteraceae family, which means it is a daisy.  In the research I’ve done, the Jersey Cudweed is described as an ‘initial coloniser on disturbed ground’. So from a native plant perspective, I guess the back yard  – dug over, with lawn planted and a small garden filled with exotic plants – meets this description. It also explains why I have found it growing on the banks of the dam.

The same entry suggests that left unchecked, Jersey Cudweed can become a weed.  Knowing this, I will remove it from our back yard. With the possible exception of bracken, which I actually like, this is the first native plant I’ve come across which has the potential to become a weed.

Here is a close-up of the flowers. Although small, they are actually quite pretty.