Brugmansia arborea (Linnaeus) Lagerheim, Solanaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Evaluate; score: 6 (Hawaii-Pacific Weed Risk Assessment for Brugmansia arborea)

Other Latin names:  Datura arborea L.; Datura cornigera Hook.

Common name(s): [more details]

English: angel's-trumpet

Habit:  tree

Description:  "Small, pubescent, treelike plant up to 60 cm. or more tall, young branches subherbaceous, green. Leaves alternate or subopposite, ovate to lanceolate, acute, base truncate or cordate, essentially entire, pubescent, varying much in size, up to 25 cm. long and 12 cm. wide but mostly smaller, petiole up to 10 cm. long. Flowers solitary, up to about 25 cm. long, corolla funnelform, white, pubescent on outside." (Plants of Tonga, p. 239)

Habitat/ecology:  Although this information seems contradictory to other information provided in this same document [a compilation of various sources], the IUCN Red List states that [Brugmansia arborea is] "The hardiest Brugmansia with respect to drought and cold, occurring cultivated in indigenous gardens or as relics of cultivation at 2000-3000 m alt in drier Andean valleys, withstanding light frosts. Although it sometimes co-occurs with B. sanguineahybrids are extremely rare. This species is invariably found bearing numerous fruits, as it is self-fertile (the only species of the genus to be so). Nevertheless seedlings are rarely encountered." (IUCN Red List)

Propagation:  RE: genus Brugmansia: "Propagation is usually by cuttings, for the plants rarely set fruit. Tree daturas are self-incompatible; a single plant is not self-fertile and must be crossed with another individual with a different genetic composition in order to produce fruit and seeds." (A Tropical Garden Flora, p. 530)

RE: Brugmansia &mult; candida: "Fruit is rarely produced in the Islands, perhaps because a suitable pollinator is lacking or only one genetic type (clone) is present.... Propagation is nearly always from cuttings." (A Tropical Garden Flora, p. 530)

Native range:  EXTINCT IN THE WILD from Northern Chile, western Bolivia, Perú and Ecuador (IUCN Red List)

Impacts and invaded habitats:  The Global Compendium of Weeds cites three references which (as determined by the GCW assessor) refer to Brugmansia arborea as a "weed." (Global Compendium of Weeds)

If you know of other invaded habitats or impacts, please let us know.

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Tonga Tonga Islands	Tonga Islands	introduced cultivated	Yuncker, T. G. (1959) (p. 239) "Occasional in villages. An American species of wide cultivation as an ornamental."
Tonga Vava‘u Group	Vava‘u Island	introduced cultivated	Yuncker, T. G. (1959) (p. 239)

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	Hay, A. (2014) EXTINCT IN THE WILD from Northern Chile, western Bolivia, Perú and Ecuador (IUCN Red List) EXTINCT IN THE WILD from Northern Chile, western Bolivia, Perú and Ecuador (IUCN Red List)
South America (Pacific rim) South America (Pacific rim)	Colombia	native cultivated	U.S. National Plant Germplasm System (year unknown) noted as cultivated, but not necessarily in this country - accessed 20180904
South America (Pacific rim) South America (Pacific rim)	Colombia	introduced	Hay, A. (2014) "It is also found in southern Colombia (Nariño) where it is considered introduced (Hay et al. 2012: 127-128)." (IUCN Red List) "It is also found in southern Colombia (Nariño) where it is considered introduced (Hay et al. 2012: 127-128)." (IUCN Red List)
South America (Pacific rim) South America (Pacific rim)	Ecuador	native	Hay, A. (2014) EXTINCT IN THE WILD from Northern Chile, western Bolivia, Perú and Ecuador (IUCN Red List) EXTINCT IN THE WILD from Northern Chile, western Bolivia, Perú and Ecuador (IUCN Red List)
South America (Pacific rim) South America (Pacific rim)	Perú (Republic of)	native cultivated	U.S. National Plant Germplasm System (year unknown) noted as cultivated, but not necessarily in this country - accessed 20180904
South America (Pacific rim) South America (Pacific rim)	Perú (Republic of)	native	Hay, A. (2014) EXTINCT IN THE WILD from Northern Chile, western Bolivia, Perú and Ecuador (IUCN Red List) EXTINCT IN THE WILD from Northern Chile, western Bolivia, Perú and Ecuador (IUCN Red List)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
South America (non-Pacific rim) South America (non-Pacific rim)	Bolivia	native cultivated	U.S. National Plant Germplasm System (year unknown) noted as cultivated, but not necessarily in this country - accessed 20180904
South America (non-Pacific rim) South America (non-Pacific rim)	Bolivia	native	Hay, A. (2014) EXTINCT IN THE WILD from Northern Chile, western Bolivia, Perú and Ecuador (IUCN Red List) EXTINCT IN THE WILD from Northern Chile, western Bolivia, Perú and Ecuador (IUCN Red List)
South America (non-Pacific rim) South America (non-Pacific rim)	Brazil	invasive	Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. (1979) (p. 120) (X)=present as a weed (but importance rank unknown)

Comments:  Assessment of any Brugmansia taxon should probably be based on "Brugmansia hybrid complex", since "There are no herbarium collections of any species of this genus made from confirmed wild plants. No botanist specialising in this genus has ever reported seeing wild plants of any species," and other information in the IUCN Red List. (Philip Thomas/PIER)

The names Brugmansia arborea and (the synonym) Datura arborea have been historically misapplied to Brugmansia x candida. (A Tropical Garden Flora, p. 530)

"The names Datura arborea and Brugmansia arborea have been misapplied to almost all other white-flowered Brugmansias for almost 250 years. Hence records under these names should be viewed sceptically unless supported by photographs and/or herbarium vouchers." (IUCN Red List)

"Since this genus survives only in cultivation, the wild population of this species [Brugmansia arborea] is zero. There are anecdotal views expressed by some indigenous healers that plants of this (and other) Brugmansia species are being eradicated from some indigenous gardens due to its toxicity and the declining numbers of healers expert enough to use it safely. However, there are no quantitative data." (IUCN Red List)

IUCN Red List Category: Extinct in the Wild. "Most of the rationale for this assessment applies to all species of the genus: There are no herbarium collections of any species of this genus made from confirmed wild plants. No botanist specialising in this genus has ever reported seeing wild plants of any species. (Verbal) Reports by non-specialist botanists of the occurrence of ‘wild’ plants are either misidentifications (usually of Datura), or misinterpretation of remnants or localised escapes from cultivation, usually along creeks and occurring by vegetative propagation from stem fragments. In all such instances investigated in Ecuador and Colombia, the plants are of the anthropogenic hybrid Brugmansia x candida (Hay et al. 2012: 172-177). It is quite clear that such instances do not represent self-sustaining sexually reproducing populations. The complete lack of evidence of fruit dispersal or spontaneous seedlings, combined with the presence of large numbers of fruits containing viable seed, suggests their dispersers are extinct. Hence, all the species should best be regarded as Extinct in the Wild. They are all threatened with total extinction in their native South America because of the ongoing practice of eradicating them from gardens because of their poisonous nature, combined with the progressive loss of the traditional (indigenous) knowledge of their multiple uses (which is what appears to have been the reason for their long-term survival, perhaps over millennia)." (IUCN Red List)

Control:  If you know of control methods for Brugmansia arborea, please let us know.