IDENTIFICATION
Provincial Noxious. Perennial.
Dalmatian toadflax is an attractive plant with bright yellow snapdragon-like
flowers and pale green heart-shaped leaves clustered around each stem.
Mature plants grow to 1.2 m and a single plant can have up to 25 flowering
stems. Fast-growing horizontal roots make it an aggressive invader of
farms and grasslands.
DAMAGE
Toadflax, which is toxic to animals, competes with native grasses and
wildflowers and reduces forage for cattle and wildlife. Poisoning is rare
as livestock will generally not eat it.
HABITAT
Toadflax can be found at low to mid-elevation in the BC Interior along
roadsides, in gardens, cultivated fields, and other disturbed areas. It
will tolerate low temperatures and coarse soil. It occurs throughout the
Okanagan, Similkameen, Thompson, East Kootenay, Cariboo, Skeena, and Boundary
areas.
SPREAD
Toadflax seed is spread by the wind and by birds and animals. A mature
plant annually produces up to five hundred thousand seeds, viable
for ten years. New plants are also formed from horizontal roots which
can be as long as 3.7 m.
