Phrase guide

Patterson's curse

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

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Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

The plant Echium plantagineum, considered a noxious weed in Australia.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Australia, uncountable

Examples

  • 1905 J. H. Maiden, Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, xvi.268, Quoted in 1985, G. A. Wilkes, A Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms, second edition, Sydney University Press, →ISBN, That ‘Paterson’s Curse’ produces some feed is undoubted, but it is a smothering, rough, coarse plant ... the vernacular name ‘Curse’ shows what many people think of it.
  • 1991, Western Australian Department of Conservation and Land Management, Landscope: The Journal of the Western Australian Department of Conservation and Land Management, Volumes 7-9, page 42, A plant with tough seeds such as Patterson’s curse (Echium plantagineum) or caltrop (Tribulus terrestris) can easily be spread in this way, as can plants that reproduce vegetatively.
  • 1995, John Marsden, A Killing Frost, 1998 US edition (originally published 1995, in Australia, as The Third Day, The Frost), unnumbered page, They came swarming across the land, like locusts, like mice, like Patterson’s Curse.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Said to be named after the Patterson family who had it as an ornamental garden plant which spread and took over adjacent previously productive paddocks (though this was not the first large outbreak).