Browallia americana L., Solanaceae

Click on an image for links to BIGGER PICTURES

Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

English: bush violet

French: yeux bleus

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Annual herb to 1 m tall, with erect, ascending, much-branched stems, sparingly hirsute to subglabrate leaves, and flowers borne solitary in axils of upper leaves; petioles 1-2 cm long, moderately to densely hirsute, finally glabrate or nearly so; blades thin, bright green, ovate to ovate-acuminate, 1.5-6 cm long, 1-3.5 (4) cm wide, rounded to broadly cuneate at base, acute to short-acuminate at apex, sparsely to moderately hirsute along veins beneath, less so above, nearly glabrate in age; pedicels slender, 4-5 mm long at anthesis, 10-18 mm long and curving outward and upward in fruit; glabrate in age; calyx narrowly tubular-campanulate, 3.5-5 mm long, hirsute with lax, multicellular hairs to 1.5 mm long, the lobes 5, erect, 1-2 mm long, slightly unequal; corolla tubular-salverform, 10-13 mm long, hirsute without, the tube slightly ampliate into oblique throat 2-2.5 mm long, limb blue, 5-lobed, faintly 2-lipped, 10-12 mm broad, an arc of white overarching 2 small spots of yellow at base of upper lip, limb margins somewhat undulate; stamens 4, didynamous; ovary free, ovoid; style slender, glabrous, strongly curved at apex; capsule broadly ovoid, 6-8 mm long, sparsely puberulent, brownish, dehiscing into 4 teeth, the first split along septa; seeds numerous, rhomboidal, flattened, dark tan to pale brown, 0.4-0.6 mm long, minutely foveolate, dull."  (Wiggins & Porter, 1971)

"Annual herb 15-60 cm high, erect or suberect...  The leaf blades are ovate, up to about 7 x 5 cm; the corolla is blue, sometimes purple or white, with a tube to 20 mm long and a limb about 15 mm in diameter; and the anthers are yellow"  (Smith, 1991; p. 39).

Habitat/ecology:  In Fiji, "cultivated and also sparingly naturalized near habitations from near sea level to about 850 m" (Smith, 1991; p. 39). In the Galápagos Islands, "known only along trails and fence rows in the Scalesia Zone" (Wiggins & Porter, 1971; pp. 458-459).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  "Tropical America, now widely cultivated and sometimes sparingly naturalized" (Smith, 1991; p. 39).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Floreana Group	Floreana Island	introduced invasive	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Isabela Group	Isabela Island	introduced invasive	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Isabela Group	Volcán Sierra Negra, Isabela Island	introduced invasive	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) San Cristóbal Group	San Cristóbal Island	introduced invasive	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Santa Cruz Group	Santa Cruz Island	introduced invasive	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Fiji Fiji Islands	Viti Levu Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Smith, Albert C. (1991) (p. 39) Vouchers cited: DA 811, DA 12139, Greenwood 1116 Sparingly naturalized.
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawaiian Islands	introduced cultivated	Staples, George W./Herbst, Derral/Imada, Clyde T. (2000) (p. 30)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 130) Vouchers cited: Franc 1887, MacKee 26630 Spontané

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Colombia Colombia	Colombia (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Costa Rica Costa Rica	Costa Rica (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Ecuador (Mainland) Ecuador	Ecuador (Republic of) (continental)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Honduras Honduras	Honduras (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Nicaragua Nicaragua	Nicaragua (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Panama Panama	Panama (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Perú Perú	Perú (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

Comments:  It is considered to be likely introduced in the Galápagos Islands due to its presence only on Santa Cruz island along trails and fences (Chris Buddenhagen, pers. com.).

Additional information:
Chavarría, F., Espinoza, R., Guadamuz, A., Perez, D. y Masís, A. 2000. Species Page de Browallia americana (Solanaceae), 14 julio 2000. Species Home Pages, Area de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica.

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

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

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

References:

Charles Darwin Foundation. 2008. Database inventory of introduced plant species in the rural and urban zones of Galapagos. Charles Darwin Foundation, Galapagos, Ecuador.

Heine, Heino. 1976. Acanthacées, Bignoniacées, Boraginacées, Solanacées. Flore de la Nouvelle-Calédonie et Dépendances. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris. Vol. 7, 212 pp.

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

McMullen, C. K. 1999. Flowering plants of the Galápagos. Comstock Pub. Assoc., Ithaca, N.Y. 370 p.

Smith, Albert C. 1991. Flora Vitiensis nova: a new flora of Fiji. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Kauai, Hawaii. Volume 5. 626 pp.

Staples, George W./Herbst, Derral/Imada, Clyde T. 2000. Survey of invasive or potentially invasive cultivated plants in Hawai‘i. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers No. 65. 35 pp.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Wiggins, I. L./Porter, D. M. 1971. Flora of the Galapágos Islands. Stanford University Press. 998 pp.