What can you tell me about Paterson’s curse? It’s a weedy plant with blue flowers mentioned in an Australian novel about an Aboriginal community and their ongoing struggle with the effects of colonization.
Paterson’s curse is a common name for Echium plantagineum, also known as Salvation Jane, purple viper’s bugloss, Lady Campbell weed, blueweed, and Riverina bluebell. It is invasive in Australia, where it has overtaken pasture land. It is toxic to horses and other grazing livestock. (There is a similar plant, Echium vulgare, which is invasive in Washington State.)
The source of the name is said to come from the Patterson family (the plant dropped the second T through common usage over time) who introduced it to their garden in Cumberoona, New South Wales around 1880. However, according to Australian author Roger Spencer, the plant’s presence was first recorded in Australia in 1843, in the garden of John Macarthur, near Sydney. It began appearing in nursery catalogues by 1845, and by 1890 it was entrenched in New South Wales and South Australia.
There are two theories about the name Salvation Jane. In times of drought, when native pasture plants died back, Echium plantagineum was seen as a ‘salvation’ because it grew when nothing else would. The hooded shape of the flowers call to mind the bonnets of 19th century Salvation Army missionaries.
You might be interested in reading more about indigenous Australian uses of plants that predate colonization.