<P> Three other Echium species have been introduced and are of concern; viper's bugloss (Echium vulgare) is the most common of them . Viper's bugloss is biennial, with a single unbranched flowering stem and smaller, more blue flowers, but is otherwise similar . This species is also useful for honey production . </P> <P> Paterson's curse has positive uses; as a fodder plant, with proper handling, it can be valuable fodder over summer for cattle and sheep, but not livestock without ruminant digestive systems . </P> <P> In the 1880s, it was introduced to Australia, probably both as an accidental contaminant of pasture seed and as an ornamental plant . Reportedly, both names for the plant derive from Jane Paterson or Patterson, an early settler of the country near Albury . She brought the first seeds from Europe to beautify a garden, and then could only watch helplessly as the weed infested previously productive pastures for many miles around . </P> <P> Paterson's curse is now a dominant broadleaf pasture weed through much of New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania and also infests native grasslands, heathlands, and woodlands . </P>

When was paterson's curse introduced to australia