Triadica sebifera (L.) Small, Euphorbiaceae

Click on an image for links to BIGGER PICTURES

Present on Pacific Islands?  no

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results: 

High risk, score: 14 (Go to the risk assessment (Pacific))
Reject, score: 18 (Go to the risk assessment (U.S. (Florida)))

Other Latin names:  Sapium sebiferum (L.) Roxb.

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: wu jiu

English: Chinese tallow tree, Florida aspen, candleberry tree, chicken tree, popcorn tree, tallowtree, vegetable tallow, white wax berry

French: arbre à suif, boiré

Spanish: árbol del sebo

Habit:  tree

Description:  "Recognized by leaf blades as wide as long or nearly so, a pair of glands on upper side of juncture of petiole and blade.  Trees to 17 m tall by 97 cm diameter, rapid-growing, often forming thickets.  Twigs glabrous, slender, brittle; sap milky and poisonous.  Leaf tips acuminate; leaves turning yellow to red in autumn.  Flowers tiny, unisexual, in slender spikes to 10 cm long, male flowers toward the end, a few female flowers near the base.  Fruits capsules, 10-18 mm across, slightly 3-lobed, the outer part splitting and falling off, leaving attached the 3 elliptical white waxy seeds"  (Duncan & Duncan, 1988; p. 252).

Habitat/ecology:  "Wet forests and grassland, freshwater wetlands, riparian habitats.  This fast growing and salt tolerant tree spreads rapidly and transforms native wetland prairies into woodland dominated by this species.  Once established, it forms pure stands that exclude almost all other plants and affect wildlife by reducing food sources.  Extensive stands alter nutrient cycling and the species composition of decomposers due to a rapid leaf decay.  Such stands reduce fuel loads in invaded areas and prevent the spread of fires.  Seedlings are able to establish in a wide range of environmental conditions including closed-canopy forests'  (Weber, 2003; p. 438).  "Planted as an ornamental, but easily spreading, often becoming weedy" (Duncan & Duncan, 1988; p. 252).  Also planted for its oil.  "Tallow tree typically grows in wetlands, swamps and bottomland forests, readily out-competing native hardwoods"  (Randall & Marinelli, 1996).

Propagation:  "The tree is a prolific seed producer and seeds are mainly dispersed by birds and water.  The tree suckers from roots and resprouts vigorously if damaged"  (Weber, 2003; p. 438).

Native range:  China.

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
French Polynesia Society Islands	Raiatea (Havai) Island	introduced cultivated	Florence, J. (1997) (pp. 140-141)
French Polynesia Society Islands	Raiatea (Havai) Island	introduced	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2013) Cultivée
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawaiian Islands	introduced cultivated	Staples, George W./Herbst, Derral/Imada, Clyde T. (2000) (p. 21)
Japan (offshore islands) Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands	Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands	introduced	Kato, Hidetoshi (2007)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
China China	China (People's Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
China China	Hong Kong	native	Wu, Te-lin (2001) (p. 187) As Sapium sebiferum (L.) Roxb. In thin forests.
Japan Japan	Japan	native	Cronk, Q. C. B./Fuller, J. L. (2001) (p. 194)
Japan Japan	Japan	introduced	Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro (2004) (p. 186) As Sapium sebiferum Roxb.
Taiwan Taiwan Island	Taiwan Island	uncertain if native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (California)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2013)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	United States (other states)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2013)
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	USA (Florida)	introduced invasive	Cronk, Q. C. B./Fuller, J. L. (2001) (p. 194)
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	USA (Florida)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2013)

Comments:  Listed as a noxious weed in Florida and Louisiana (U.S.). Planting of this species is prohibited in Miami-Dade County, Florida (U.S.) (Miami-Dade County Dept. of Planning and Zoning, 2010).

Control:  Control information from the Bugwood Wiki.

Physical: Hand-pull seedlings. Cutting trees older than one year leads to root and stump suckering.

Chemical:  "Mature trees should be treated with a triclopyr herbicide applied to the base of the tree.  Follow-up programmes are necessary to treat regrowth and seedlings"  (Weber, 2003; p. 438).