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Interim profile, incomplete information          General Impact Austroeupatorium inulifolium is listed as an "agricultural and environmental weed" in the Global Compendium of Weeds (2008). It is a serious weed in the Philippines where it forms very dense thickets in rubber, tea and rosella plantations, upland rice plantations and in clearings in secondary forest (Waterhouse & Mitchell 1998, in PIER 2008).          Location Specific Impacts: Saint Helena   Competition: Whiteweed was not noted as an invasive species on St Helena until the expansion of its range in the 1970’s, some hundred years after the first record. This coincided with widespread removal of New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) following the decline of the flax industry in 1966, though a causative link has not been proven. Whiteweed is a versatile plant and adaptable to many habitats. It can reach flowering maturity as a small pasture form 30cm high, through to tree like forms to 10m high in forestry. Establishing outliers recruit rapidly and the climax stand in open ground is a dense thicket to 3m with little or no understorey vegetation. Its rapid growth gives it a competitive edge and massive seed production c.400,000 per mature plant each year ensures success. Economic/Livelihoods: Beef and sheep grazing are marginal agricultural activities on St Helena. Incursions of whiteweed into pasture adds a management burden which can result in net losses. Whiteweed in forestry is subject to regular ‘quick fix’ strimming operations in lieu of funding to implement a long term intensive clearance programme. The rapid growth of whiteweed on disturbed ground adds to the cost of road verge maintenance incurred by the public works department. The Agriculture and Natural Resources Department invests much of its incentive scheme budget into land clearance rather than development and conservation staff employed by the department spend up to 50% of their time on clearing whiteweed from restoration sites typically a site needs to be cleaned twice a year for at least a decade before the whiteweed population is suppressed. Habitat alteration: The wind dispersed nature of the plant have allowed it to become established in many of the few remaining endemic strongholds on the island, usually cliffs inaccessible to earlier free ranging goats. Early (1990’s) large scale conservation clearance projects of New Zealand Flax and buddleia (Buddleja madagascariensis) are now dominated by whiteweed. Current restoration work of endemic sites is now carried out on a smaller scale over a longer time period with dense replanting and the use of non native grasses to establish and maintain ground cover. Whiteweed is a key threat to the success of conservation work in Diana’s Peak National Park. Human health: Pollen produced by the plant affects people susceptible to hay fever. Specific toxicity to humans has not been investigated. Other: Whiteweed is unpalatable to grazing animals.