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Magnoliopsida
Clidemia hirta (L.) D. Don
EOL Text
Stewardship Overview: Clidemia, which forms monospecific subcanopy stands in native forests, is one of the most disruptive alien plants in Hawaii. It is very widespread on Oahu where it spread very rapidly, and has recently become established on almost all the other major islands. Its potential range is very great, essentially all wet and mesic habitats below 1,500 m. Clidemia's success as a weed is due to high production of seed, prolific establishment from seed, rapid growth and maturation, broad environmental tolerances, and availability of dispersal vectors. It is a threat to Kamakou Preserve and potentially a threat to lower elevations in Waikamoi Preserve. Biological control is the long-term solution, and two partly successful biocontrol agents have been released. More are probably needed. Control of long-distance establishments is worthwhile, even though the effectiveness of control efforts has been limited. Research is needed on an effective herbicide to augment manual techniques in controlling new invasions and long- distance establishments.
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Global Distribution
Native of South America; naturalised in Paleotropics
Indian distribution
State - Kerala, District/s: Palakkad, Kottayam, Kollam, Idukki, Pathanamthitta, Thiruvananthapuram
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Clidemia hirta, commonly called soapbush or Koster's Curse, is a perennial shrub. It is an invasive plant species in many tropical regions of the world, creating serious damage.
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Distribution[edit]
Originally from the American Neotropics (Mexico to Paraguay as well as the Caribbean),[1][2] it has been introduced to Australia, Southern Asia and East Africa.
It was introduced to Hawaiʻi in the 1940s; by 1978 it had spread to over 90,000 acres (360 km2) of land on Oʻahu. In 1972 Koster's Curse was first spotted on the Big Island. In Sri Lanka it is quite invasive in wet zone and upcountry forests, especially invading gaps in the forest, preventing other native species from emerging.[3]
Biology[edit]
The plant grows 1–5 metres (3 ft 3 in–16 ft 5 in) tall, depending on habitat.
The black berries are up to 8 millimetres (0.31 in) long and taste a bit like a deeply flavored blueberry. Each fruit contains more than 100 tiny (0.5 mm) seeds. It flowers and fruits all year, if conditions are moist enough. A large plant can produce more than 500 fruits in a single year. The seeds are dispersed by birds, feral pigs, other animals, and humans. Sheep will not eat the plant, and the tannin inside the fruits is poisonous to goats. The seeds can remain viable in the soil for up to 4 years.
The human edibility factor of this berry has not been fully explored. The tannin inside of the fruit is not harmful to humans and a delicious syrup may be made from the fruit. The syrup has a beautiful indigo blue color and may be used to enhance and remove the bitterness of teas such as yerba mate.
Name[edit]
The epitheton hirta means "scrubby" in Latin. "Koster's curse" is a commonly used name in places where the plant grows as a noxious weed, such as Hawai'i. Koster was the man who between 1880 and 1886 accidentally introduced seeds of C. hirta to Fiji in coffee nursery stock, where its problematic nature was first noticed around 1920 (Paine, 1934; Simmonds, 1937). Originally only known as "the curse" for the damage it did to coconut plantations, its vernacular name became a model after which those of other invasive plants were patterned, such as Ellington's Curse on Fiji, McConnel's curse in Australia, Curse of India in East Africa or Burbank's Folly in the Pacific Northwest.
Biological control[edit]
Koster's curse can form dense thickets that smother plantations, pastures and native vegetation.
Manually pulling plants out of the ground supplemented by herbicide application is an effective but temporary control method.[1] The thrips species Liothrips urichi from Trinidad is being used to biologically control C. hirta; it was first employed on Fiji in 1930 (Simmonds, 1933).
Introducing the plant to Australia can be fined with up to 60,000 (Australian) $.
Synonyms[edit]
Taxonomic synonyms for C. hirta include:
- Clidemia benthamiana
- Clidemia cognata
- Clidemia crenata
- Clidemia elegans
- Clidemia leptocada
- Clidemia pauciflora
- Dancera hirta
- Leandra fimbriata
- Melastoma anhaga
- Melastoma aristatum
- Melastoma elegans
- Melastoma rustica
- Staphidium elegans
- Staphidium hostmanii
References[edit]
- ^ a b "Clidemia hirta" (PDF). International Institute of Tropical Forestry. United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 2009-02-18.
- ^ "Clidemia hirta". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 1994-08-23. Retrieved 2009-02-18.
- ^ Lalith Gunasekera, Invasive Plants: A guide to the identification of the most invasive plants of Sri Lanka, Colombo 2009, p. 95–96.
- Paine, R.W. (1934): The control of Koster's curse (Clidemia hirta) on Taveuni. Fiji Agricultural Journal 7(1): 10-21.
- Simmonds, H. W. (1933): Biological control of Clidemia hirta. Fiji Agricultural Journal, 6(2): 32–33.
- Simmonds, H. W. (1937): The biological control of the weed Clidemia hirta commonly known in Fiji as 'the curse'. Fiji Agricultural Journal, 8(3): 37–39.
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| Rights holder/Author | Wikipedia |
| Source | http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Clidemia_hirta&oldid=643954232 |
"Shrubs 0.5-3 m tall; young branches rounded, hirsute. Leaves opposite, 5-16 x 3-8 cm, ovate to oblong-ovate, apex acute to short-acuminate, base rounded to subcordate, subentire to crenulate-denticulate, 5-nerved, upper surface sparsely strigose, lower surface finely bristly, margins ciliate; petioles 0.5-3 cm long. Pedicels 0.5-1 mm long in fruit; hypanthium 3-3.5 mm long, moderately to sparsely finely bristly, usually with a mixture of gland-tipped and stellulate hairs; receptacle bearing a conspicuous ring of fimbriate scales surrounding style. Calyx lobes broadly ovate to truncate in fruit, ca. 0.5 mm long, the linear external teeth projecting 2-4 mm. Petals white, 8-11 mm long, 4-5 mm wide, glabrous. Staminal filaments ca. 2.5 mm long; anthers 3.5-4.5 mm long, dorsal spur at base ca. 0.25 mm long. Berries 6-9 mm long; seeds 0.5-0.75 mm long."
French Guiana: raguet macaque. Surinam: oema snekie wiwirie, tamakoesji.
Habit: Shrub
FG Creole: radie-macaque.
Comments: Clidemia is found in a great variety of mesic to very wet, open to closed habitats from 10-1,200 m elevation (Smith in press), with a potential upper elevation limit of 1,500 m based on limits in its native range (Smith pers. comm). Its failure to spread to Kahoolawe and Niihau may be due to restricted access and the aridity of these islands (Smith in press). One known small population is established at Kamakou Preserve. A fruiting plant was discovered in 1981, and a seed bank has become established; seedlings continue to be found in 1991. Clidemia is not known from Waikamoi. However, it is found along the Ko`olau Ditch banks and associated roads below the preserve (Smith in press).
Comments: Plant from the Neotropics.
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| Rights holder/Author | NatureServe |
| Source | http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Clidemia+hirta |
Degraded forest areas