Ivy gourd (Coccinia grandis [Cucurbitaceae])

An invasive weed in Hawaii

Ivy gourd flower

Ivy gourd fruit

Ivy gourd vine

Ivy gourd on native 'ilima

This page is dedicated to dissemination of information about ivy gourd (Coccinia grandis [Cucurbitaceae]), a noxious vine from Africa and Asia. Ivy gourd is on Hawaii's a proven invader in Hawaii, having already wreaked havoc on Oahu and Kona (Big Island). Ivy gourd--sometimes known as scarlet-fruited gourd--is a severe pest in gardens, on utility poles, roadsides, and in natural areas. It is on the Hawaii state noxious weed list; therefore, landowners may request and receive assistance from the Hawaii state Department of Agriculture  for removal. It it already widespread on Oahu and in the Kona/Kealakekua area of the Big Island (Hawaii), but has only small (hopefully eradicable) populations on Maui and Kauai. It is currently not known from Lanai, Molokai, Kahoolawe, or the Hilo side of the Big Island. If you suspect that you know where ivy gourd is growing (particularly on Maui, Kauai, or anywhere that it's not currently known to occur), call the HEAR project at (808) 572-4418 to get confirmation and/or to initiate control/eradication. Even if you control the plant yourself (see poster below for control info), HEAR would like to know about your population in order to map it and/or to allow followup tracking.

Additional information will be added to this page periodically. Hopefully, it can become a worldwide repository for information RE: Coccinia grandis as an invasive alien species.

If you have information to contribute, know of relevant links which should be included, or have questions or comments, please send info via e-mail to the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project.

Primary sources of online information for ivy gourd (Coccinia grandis) information in Hawaii

• Ivy gourd poster* - This is an informational poster RE: ivy gourd (with contact information for Maui). Please feel free to distribute this poster widely! (Soon we may have Kauai's poster online as well.) (*This document is in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.)

• If you find ivy gourd, please send info via e-mail to the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (or call HEAR at (808) 572-4418), and*/or contact your local Department of Agriculture. (*HEAR attempts to track all ivy gourd sightings [except for Oahu and the Kona area of the Big Island], but we might not get contacted directly by the Dept. of Ag on all occasions. Therefore, we'd appreciate it if, even if you call HDOA, you'd also let us know!)

• Ivy gourd, scarlet-fruited gourd  - information from the University of Hawaii Botany Department. (Also available: info RE: this species on the UH campus .)

• Biocontrol of ivy gourd (Coccinia grandis) in Hawaii  - USDA/APHIS announces via a press release that it is accepting comments on an environmental assessment for the release of biocontrol agents for ivy gourd (Coccinia grandis) in Hawaii. (Thanks to Chris Buddenhagen [New Zealand Department of Conservation, Wellington] for bringing this to our attention!)

• Known ivy gourd distribution in Hawaii (by island)

• Ivy gourd contact information by island (Hawaii) 

• Kauai volunteers tackle harmful ivy gourd weed  - Honolulu Star-Bulletin article (23 June 1997)

• Ivy gourd biocontrol release (photo)  - Ken Teramoto, state Department of Agriculture, is ready to release 15 African vine-boring moths into the wild in the hope of controling an infestation of the noxious ivy gourd weed, which has become a pest since being discovered on Punchbowl in 1968.

Ivy gourd as an invasive species outside Hawaii

• http://www.hear.org/pier/cogra.htm - Coccinia grandis info from the Pacific Islands Ecosystems at Risk (PIER) website (including references to its introduction in Micronesia [Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (Saipan); Guam; Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia]); Fiji; Hawai'i; Tonga; Vanuatu.   

• http://www.isb.vt.edu/proceedings99/proceedings.cucurbit.html  - "Report of the cucurbit working group" - Coccinia grandis reported in Florida, Texas   

Additional information on Coccinia grandis

• Missouri Botanical Gardens' "Flora of China Checklist" entry 

• http://w3.uwyo.edu/~caps/annual/ann95.html  - a reference to Coccinia grandis in Wyoming (Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey Annual Report for Wyoming, Fiscal Year 1995)   

• http://www.hear.org/pier/guam.htm - Coccinia grandis on Guam   

• http://www.barbadine.com/pages/coccinia_grandis_lien.htm  - description of Coccinia grandis from a seed seller   

• http://cucurbit.org/family.html  - some reference books on cucurbits, including Coccinia grandis     

• http://www.fcla.edu/FlaEnt/fe78p473.pdf   - Coccinia grandis mentioned as a host for Bactrocera cucurbitae in "Cue Lure and the Mating Behavior of Male Melon Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae)"   

• http://agspsrv34.agric.wa.gov.au/agency/pubns/infonote/infonotes/ao1094.htm  - Coccinia grandis info sheet (for Western Australia)   

• http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/bats/vaultlst.html  - Info on Coccinia grandis "Noxious Weed Pest Risk Assessment" (USDA/APHIS/PPQ)   

*This document is in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. If your computer is not already set up to read these files, you can download the FREE Adobe Acrobat reader. You can set up most web browsers to automatically invoke this reader (as a "helper application" or "add-in") upon encountering documents of this type (refer to your browser's documentation for how to do this).  

Comments?  Questions?  Send e-mail to webmaster@hear.org   (This page was created on 28 January 1998 by PT, and was last updated on 16 May 2005 by LF.)    indicates an external link (not maintained by HEAR).