Artabotrys hexapetalus (L.f.) Bhandari, Annonaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Low risk, score: 0 (Go to the risk assessment)

Other Latin names:  Artabotrys odoratissimus R. Br. ex Ker Gawl.; Artabotrys uncinatus (Lam.) Merr.

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: ying zhua hua

English: climbing ilang-ilang, climbing ylang-ylang, ylang-ylang

French: coq du levant, coque du levant

Habit:  shrub

Description:  "A powerful climber, the old stems of great thickness, covered with rather smooth grey bark and furnished with thick woody pointed spreading spines 2-4 cm long.  Leafy branches slightly puberulous.  Leaf-blade 6-15 cm long, 2-4.5 cm wide, narrowly elliptical, usually 3 to 4 times as long as wide, acute or almost so at base, short-acuminate at apex, not glossy; lateral veins 8-16 pairs.  Pedicel sparsely pubescent.  Sepals about 5 mm long, pubescent on outside.  Outer petals up to 1 cm wide.  Carpels glabrous.  Fruitlets 3-4 cm long when ripe, ovoid, conspicuously apiculate, quite glabrous.  Seeds 15-20 mm long, pale brown, smooth" (Dassanayake, 1983; p. 51).

"Climbing shrub, to 12 ft. long; leaves narrowly oblong-lanceolate, to 6 in. long; flowers not showy but very fragrant, 1-2 together on low peduncles, sepals reflexed, yellow, petals about 1 in. long; fruit narrowly obovoid, yellow, 1 1/2 in. long, sessile, in dense clusters 20 in long" (Bailey & Bailey, 1976; p. 111).

Habitat/ecology:  Moist forests (Bailey & Bailey, 1976; p. 111).  In Sri Lanka, "formerly rather commmon in dry country forests but rarely collected during the past decades" (Dassanayake, 1983; p. 51).

Propagation:  Seed.  "The fleshy fruit attracts birds and rats; several collectors have noted that this species seems to escape from cultivation, and it reseeds itself freely"  (Staples & Herbst, 2005; pp. 110-111).

Native range:  Sri Lanka, southern India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Taiwan (GRIN). "A native of southern Deccan Peninsula and Ceylon; reported from Java and South China but not indigenous there" (Dassanayake, 1983; p. 51).

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	Tahiti Island	introduced cultivated	Florence, J. (2004) (p. 82)
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island	introduced cultivated	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Voucher cited: J. Florence 7724 (PAP) Cultivée
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive	Nagata, Kenneth M. (1995) (p. 11) Voucher cited: Natata 3891 (BISH) In kukui forest.
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. (2003) (p. 24) East Maui. Voucher cited: Starr & Martz 001122-1 (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive	Nagata, Kenneth M. (1995) (p. 11) Voucher cited: Nagata 3787 (BISH, HLA) In disturbed forest.
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 15) Vouchers cited: H. Brinon 1, Veillon 4544, Suprin in MacKee 45442
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands	introduced cultivated	Merrill, Elmer D. (1923) (p. 173) As Artabotrys uncinatus) (Lam.) Merr. In occasional cultivation.
United States (other Pacific offshore islands) Midway Atoll	Sand Island	introduced cultivated	Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim/Loope, Lloyd (2008) (pp. B-4)

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. (2011)
China China	Hong Kong	introduced cultivated	Wu, Te-lin (2001) (p. 39) Cultivated in gardens.
Singapore Singapore	Singapore (Republic of)	introduced cultivated	Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. (2009) (p. 15) Cultivated only
Taiwan Taiwan	Taiwan Island	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Maldives Maldive Islands	Malè Atoll		Fosberg, F. R. (1957) (p. 18)

Additional information:
Hawaii's Most Invasive Horticultural Plants

Additional online information about Artabotrys hexapetalus is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Artabotrys hexapetalus as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

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

References:

Bailey, L. H./Bailey, E. Z. 1976. Hortus third: A concise dictionary of plants cultivated in the United States and Canada. Macmillan, New York. 1290 pp.

Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. 2009. A checklist of the total vascular plant flora of Singapore: native, naturalised and cultivated species. Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore. 273 pp.

Dassanayake, M. D., gen. ed. 1983. A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon. Vol V. Amerind Pub. Co., New Delhi. 476 pp.

Florence, J. 2004. Flore de la Polynésie française, Vol. 2. Paris. IRE Editions, Publications Scientifiques, Collection Faune et Flore Tropicales 41. 503 pp.

Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. 2011. Base de données botaniques Nadeaud de l'Herbier de la Polynésie Française (PAP). (online resource).

Fosberg, F. R. 1957. The Maldive Islands, Indian Ocean. Atoll Research Bulletin No. 58. Pacific Science Board, National Academy of Sciences, Washington. 37 pp.

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

Merrill, Elmer D. 1923. An enumeration of Philippine flowering plants, vol. 2 [reprint]. Bureau of Printing, Manila. 530 pp.

Nagata, Kenneth M. 1995. New Hawaiian plant records IV. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Miller, Scott, E., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 1994. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 42:10-13.

Staples, George W./Herbst, Derral R. 2005. A tropical garden flora: plants cultivated in the Hawaiian Islands and other tropical places. Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 908 pp.

Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim/Loope, Lloyd. 2008. Botanical survey of Midway Atoll. Prepared for: United States Fish and Wildlife Service. 27 pp. plus appendices.

Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. 2003. New plant records from the Hawaiian Archipelago. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2001-2002. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 74:23-34.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. 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).

Wu, Te-lin. 2001. Check List of Hong Kong Plants. Hong Kong Herbarium and the South China Institute of Botany. Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department Bulletin 1 (revised). 384 pp.

Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong. 2011. Flora of China (online resource).