Countywide : Thistle Never Do: War Is Declared on Weed

County officials mobilized Tuesday for a counterattack against an invasion not of foreign troops, nor even the Mediterranean Fruit Fly.

No, this time the enemy is the purple-flowered, inedible artichoke thistle, a weedlike cousin of the commercially grown artichoke commonly used in salads.

Fearful that the tall, fan-shaped thistle will overrun the county’s open spaces, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to spend $250,800 on an all-out eradication effort.

Most of the money appropriated by the board will be used to purchase herbicide, according to county officials.

County agricultural officials say the thistle grows so vigorously that it crowds out everything in its path, from crops planted in open fields to big shrubs and small trees in parks and on hillsides.

So far, however, few homeowners have reported problems with the weed, which has infiltrated Mason Park in Irvine, Arroyo Trabuco Park and the Laguna Niguel and O’Neill regional parks.

The eradication effort is expected to take several years, and success is far from guaranteed, officials say. A similar effort in 1969 merely slowed the invasion.

“This problem has cropped up at different times over the years,” said Board Chairman Thomas F. Riley. “I’m convinced once and for all that a piecemeal effort is not going to be successful. . . . The weed is an absolute menace and we’ve got to stop it now.”