Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER)

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Acaena ovalifolia
Ruiz & Pav., Rosaceae
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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

English: two-spined acaena

Spanish: bidibid, broquín, cadilla, cadillo, canaharamjo, trefo, trun

Habit:  herb

Description: 

Genus:  "Decumbent or ascending herbs, often suffrutescent at the base, with erect, usually scapelike flowering branches. Leaves unequally pinnate, the leaflets incised-serrate or divided. Stipules vaginate, adnate to the petiole. Stamens 1-10. Fruit usually tuberculate or aculeate, included in the persistent calyx.

Species:  "A sprawling, ligneous, densely leafy plant; leaves several-11-foliolate, in the typical form with about 3 pairs of leaflets, the lower ones much reduced; leaflets oval-elliptic or slightly obovate, obtuse, sharply dentate-crenate, green and glabrous above, more or less sericeous beneath; scapes suberect, leafless above, little elongate in fruit, the capitate inflorescence then 1.5 cm. broad; fruit 2.5-4 mm. long, abruptly attenuate at the base, appressed-pilose, the spines usually 2, rarely 4, as much as 12 mm. long, glochidiate only at the apex. A highly variable species, forming carpet-like mats"  (Macbride, 1938; 13(2/3):1116, 1118).

"Stems of both woody and herbaceous creeping and rooting habit (and occasionally rhizomes), prostrate or sometimes ascending, green, occasionally flushed red, with long fine white hairs.   Leaves more or less oval, pinnate, 5-12cm long, divided into 7-11 toothed leaflets.  Stipules with a section 3-5mm long fused to the petiole.  Leaflets upper surface bright green, finely wrinkled and sometimes glossy when young, hairless, lower surface covered with soft silky hairs, especially on the midrib and main veins, the two outermost pairs of leaflets elliptic/oblong, 15-30 x 9-16mm, with 17-23 acute teeth, clefts between the teeth extending up to one-third of the way to the midrib of the leaflet.  Scape 6-12mm long in fruit, green and densely appressed-hairy.  Flowers tiny, without petals, with purple anthers, crowded on to a spherical inflorescence c.8-10mm diameter in flower, 18-30mm diameter in fruit (including spines); each flower with two spines, 8-10mm long, red, barbed, at the top of the receptacle.  The head readily breaks up when the fruit is mature; each individual fruit has two barbed spines" (Invasive Alien Species in Northern Ireland).

Habitat/ecology:  "It is proving a highly invasive alien on the IUCN-designated World Biosphere Reserve of Juan Fernandez Island off the coast of Chile, competing with native grasses and endangering elements of an extremely vulnerable endemic island flora.  Because it is an aggressive coloniser, it can form large pure colonies which swamp other low-growing native species. This loss of native species will lead to the impoverishment of habitats and the concomitant loss of hostplants for native animal life"  (Invasive Alien Species in Northern Ireland).

Propagation:  "Reproduction is from seed, and sometimes from pieces of rooted stolon. It freely produces viable fruit which can attach to clothes, shoes, etc., by means of the long spines. It can also be propagated vegetatively as it has a creeping and rooting rhizomatous stem"  (Invasive Alien Species in Northern Ireland).

Native range:  "South American Andes"  (Macbride, 1938; 13(2/3):1118).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. &
Island group
Location Cited status &
Cited as invasive &
Cited as cultivated &
Cited as aboriginal introduction?
Reference &
Comments
Chile (offshore islands)
Juan Fernández Islands
Isla Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island)   Skottsberg, Carl (1953) (p. 133)
Chile (offshore islands)
Juan Fernández Islands
Isla Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island) introduced
invasive
Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John (2011)
Chile (offshore islands)
Juan Fernández Islands
Isla Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island) introduced
invasive
Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido (2006) (p. 550)
Chile (offshore islands)
Juan Fernández Islands
Isla Más Afuera (Alejandro Selkirk Island) introduced
invasive
Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John (2011)
Chile (offshore islands)
Juan Fernández Islands
Isla Más Afuera (Alejandro Selkirk Island) introduced
invasive
Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido (2006) (p. 550)
Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. &
Island group
Location Cited status &
Cited as invasive &
Cited as cultivated &
Cited as aboriginal introduction?
Reference &
Comments
South America (Pacific rim)
South America (Pacific rim)
Chile (Republic of) native
Missouri Botanical Garden (2013)
South America (Pacific rim)
South America (Pacific rim)
Colombia native
Missouri Botanical Garden (2013)
South America (Pacific rim)
South America (Pacific rim)
Ecuador (Republic of) (continental) native
Missouri Botanical Garden (2013)
South America (Pacific rim)
South America (Pacific rim)
Perú (Republic of) native
Macbride, J. Francis (1936) (p. 13(2/3):1118)

Control:  If you know of control methods for Acaena ovalifolia, please let us know.


Need more info? Have questions? Comments? Information to contribute? Contact PIER! (pier@hear.org)

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This page was created on 15 DEC 2010 and was last updated on 13 JAN 2011.