Argyreia nervosa (Burm.f.) Bojer, Convolvulaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Threat only at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Low risk (based on second screen), score: 1 (Go to the risk assessment)

Other Latin names:  Argyrenia speciosa (L. f.) Sweet

Common name(s): [more details]

English: elephant climber, elephant creeper, elephant vine, Hawaiian baby woodrose, silver morning glory, wood rose, woolly morning glory

French: coup d'air, liane à minguet, liane d'argent, liane d'argentne à minguet

Habit:  vine

Description:  "Clambering vine to several meters long; herbage velvety pubescent, densely so when young; leaf blades 15-25 (30) cm long, 13-20 (30) cm wide, cordate, acuminate-attenuate apically, cordate basally; flowers in cymes, on long, white-tomentose peduncles; sepals 13-15 mm long, velvety like the herbage; pedicels to 15 cm long; flowers 5-7.5 cm long, the corolla with a short tube and campanulate limb, lavender to pink, the throat darker" (Welsh, 1998; p. 83).

Habitat/ecology:  Climbing vine. It is reportedly valuable for medicinal properties. In New Caledonia, "assez fréquent dans les jardins, surtout à Nouméa une seule récolte notée comme spontanée" (MacKee, 1994; p. 40).

Propagation:  Berries dispersed by frugivorous birds.

Native range:  Burma and India.

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Cook Islands Southern Cook Islands	Rarotonga Island		Bishop Museum (Honolulu) (1929) (voucher ID: BISH 140571) Taxon name on voucher: Argyreia nervosa (Burm.f.) Bojer
Cook Islands Southern Cook Islands	Rarotonga Island		Bishop Museum (Honolulu) (1929) (voucher ID: BISH 140572) Taxon name on voucher: Argyreia nervosa (Burm.f.) Bojer
French Polynesia Society Islands	Raiatea (Havai) Island	introduced cultivated	Welsh, S. L. (1998) (p. 83) Voucher cited: Moore 777
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island	introduced cultivated	Welsh, S. L. (1998) (p. 83) Voucher cited: Grant 5432
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced invasive	Lorence, David H./Flynn, Timothy W./Wagner, Warren L. (1995) (p. 32) Vouchers cited: T. Flynn 1203 (PTBG), D. Lorence & T. Flynn 7432 (BISH, PTBG, US)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Oppenheimer, Hank L. (2004) (p. 10) East Maui. Voucher cited: Oppenheimer H110209 (BISH, PTBG)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 40) Vouchers cited: Baumann 11068, Webster & Hildreth 14753, MacKee 20160
Tonga Tongatapu Group	‘Eua Island	introduced invasive	Yuncker, T. G. (1959) (p. 228) Voucher cited: Yuncker 15340
Tonga Tongatapu Group	‘Eua Island		Bishop Museum (Honolulu) (1953) (voucher ID: BISH 140573) Taxon name on voucher: Argyreia nervosa (Burm.f.) Bojer

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
La Réunion (France) La Réunion Island	La Réunion Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Lavergne, Christophe (2006) "Cultivé/naturalisé"

Comments:  Invasive in northern Queensland.  "It thrives around Townsville (-15 deg. latitude) which has a comparatively low rainfall, more a dry monsoon area and rampages around Cooktown (-19 deg. latitude) where the summer rainfall can be measured in metres, giving it quite a broad climate range.  I believe that it occurs on a range of soil types.  It is most definitely an environmental weed. Given the situations I have personally observed it I believe that it would have some degree of shade tolerance in it's earlier life stages.  it will definitely reproduce by vegetative fragmentation.  Given it's distribution around Cooktown I believe that the seeds would be dispersed in floodwaters.  It is extremely likely to be bird and pig dispersed"  (Louise Hucks, Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy, Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, pers. com.).

Additional information:  Additional online information about Argyreia nervosa is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Taxonomic information about Argyreia nervosa may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Bishop Museum (Honolulu). 1929. Voucher specimen #BISH 140571 (Wilder, G.P. 767).

Bishop Museum (Honolulu). 1929. Voucher specimen #BISH 140572 (Wilder, G.P. 767).

Bishop Museum (Honolulu). 1953. Voucher specimen #BISH 140573 (Yuncker, T.G. 15340).

Lavergne, Christophe. 2006. List des especes exotiques envahissantes a La Reunion. Unpublished manuscript (Excel file). .

Lorence, David H./Flynn, Timothy W./Wagner, Warren L. 1995. Contributions to the flora of Hawai‘i. III. New additions, range extensions, and rediscoveries of flowering plants. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Miller, Scott, E., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 1994. Part 1: Articles. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 41:19-58.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

Oppenheimer, Hank L. 2004. New Hawaiian plant records for 2003. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2003. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 79:8-20.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2007. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawaii. Revised edition. Bernice P. Bishop Museum special publication. University of Hawai‘i Press/Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 1919 pp. (two volumes).

Welsh, S. L. 1998. Flora Societensis: A summary revision of the flowering plants of the Society Islands. E.P.S. Inc., Orem, Utah. 420 pp.

Yuncker, T. G. 1959. Plants of Tonga. Bishop Museum Bull. 220. Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 343 pp.