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Tradescantia fluminensis formerly called Wandering Jew, now simply WanderingTrad, is a dreaded weed mostly of coastal or cool damp areas. It grows densely, smothering natives such as ground covers and seedling trees and shrubs. 

In late 2020 PNHA received some Trad stems from the CSIRO. These were infected with a Smut, a type of fungus  Kordyana brasiliensis found infecting the Trad in its native Brazil. Extensive testing had proved this did not infect closely related native species, such as Commelina cyanea and others. We planted the stems among healthy Trad in several bushland reserves and were prepared to wait up to a year for the Smut to spread. 

The spread has  been quicker than expected and spread in most of the places where we had planted the infected stems. The effect on the Trad is to cause its leaves to develop yellowish areas on the upper surface, and discs of fungus spore areas on the undersurface. The foliage withers and thins, freeing native ground cover species from competition from light and moisture. It doesn't die completely, but the effect is that the frustrating and futile work of controlling it by handweeding or spraying is no longer necessary, in our experience. What a wonderful boon!

We now help the Smut to spread  between Trad areas by collecting  and planting our own infected stems, usually with good results. 

Recently we noticed Commelina in the Pittwater area looking as though Smut had infected it too, but our CSIRO contact reported that this was caused by another leaf fungus, of which there are many. The World of Fungi is amazing and various.