Brugmansia suaveolens (Willd.) Bercht.+ Presl., Solanaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Other Latin names:  Datura suaveolens Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.

Common name(s): [more details]

English: angel's trumpet, night bells, trumpet flower

Fijian: mbo ni wai, mbondavui, mbua ni wai, ndavui, uvuuvu

Spanish: floripondio

Habit:  shrub

Description: 

Genus: "Large shrubs or small trees, unarmed, the indument sparse to dense, the hairs simple; leaves alternate, petiolate, simple, the blades entire or shallowly lobed; inflorescence composed of a solitary, inclined or pendulous flower; flowers perfect, large, actinomorphic or subzygomorphic, pedicellate; calyx tubular, not circumscissile, 5-lobed or spathaceous, caducous or persisting as an envelope about fruit; corolla single or double, large, long-infundibular or tabular and flaring distally, the tube long and slender, the limb strongly plicate in bud, the lobes 5, cuspidate or acuminate; stamens 5, the filaments slender, inserted on distal part of corolla tube, the anthers linear, basifixed, free or coherent, longitudinally dehiscent; ovary 2-locular, glabrous, the ovules numerous, the style slender, elongate, the stigma 2-lobed; fruit a 4-valved, indehiscent capsule, lanceolate-ellipsoid, unarmed, the seeds numerous, compressed, obocoid-semicircular, coarsely rugose-tuberculate, comparatively large (7-12 x 5-8 mm)" (Smith, 1991; pp. 33-34).

Species:  "A shrub 1-3 m high.  The corolla is white, the tube being greenish toward base" (Smith, 1991; pp. 33-34).

Habitat/ecology:  In Fiji, "occurring from near sea level to about 600 m, sometimes cultivated and becoming a village weed, or sometimes naturalized in dense forest along streams" (Smith, 1991; pp. 33-34). In New Caledonia, "localement abondant en stations fraîches et humides; n'est pas signalé comme cultivé" (MacKee, 1994; p. 131).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Tropical and subtropical America (Smith, 1991; pp. 33-34).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia (Pacific offshore islands) Norfolk Islands	Norfolk Island	introduced invasive	Orchard, Anthony E., ed. (1994) (p. 10) "A native of Brazil, widely cultivated and naturalised in 1 or 2 places on the Island". Vouchers cited: G. Uhe 1142 (K), R.M. Laing (CHR)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island)	introduced invasive cultivated	Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John (2011)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island)	introduced cultivated	Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido (2006) (pp. 476, 522, 551) Voucher cited: Danton I(5/347)1692. "En RC, está presente en varios jardines del pueblo de San Jaun Bautista".
Cook Islands Southern Cook Islands	Mangaia Island		McCormack, Gerald (2011)
Cook Islands Southern Cook Islands	Rarotonga Island		McCormack, Gerald (2011)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) San Cristóbal Group	San Cristóbal Island	introduced cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008) Observed in survey, no herbarium record.
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Santa Cruz Group	Santa Cruz Island	introduced cultivated	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Fiji Fiji Islands	Viti Levu Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Smith, Albert C. (1991) (pp. 33-34) Vouchers cited: Smith 4499, Smith 8846, DA 12116, Smith 7199
French Polynesia Society Islands	Moorea Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Tuamotu Archipelago	Niau Atoll	introduced cultivated	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Voucher cited: J. Florence 10191 (PAP). "Ornementale rare".
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawaiian Islands	introduced cultivated	Staples, George W./Herbst, Derral/Imada, Clyde T. (2000) (p. 30)
New Caledonia Îles Loyauté (Loyalte Islands)	Îles Ouvéa (Ouvea Atoll)	introduced invasive cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 131) Voucher cited: Däniker 2206
New Caledonia New Caledonia	New Caledonia Islands	introduced invasive	Gargominy, Oliver/Bouchet, Philipe/Pascal, Michel/Jaffre, Tanguy/Tourneu, Jean-Christophe (1996) (p. 383) Localement abondante.
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive	Tassin, Jacques (2005)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 131) Vouchers cited: Franc 2349, MacKee 5592, Blanchon 335
New Zealand (offshore islands) Kermadec Islands	Raoul Island	introduced invasive	Sykes, W. R. (1977) (pp. 142-143)
New Zealand (offshore islands) Kermadec Islands	Raoul Island	introduced	Sykes, W. R./West, C. J. (1996) (p. 456)
New Zealand (offshore islands) Kermadec Islands	Raoul Island	introduced invasive	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 1219) "In and around a small ravine near the main area of human habitation".
Tonga Vava‘u Group	Vava‘u Island	introduced	Yuncker, T. G. (1959) (p. 239) Brugmansia arborea (L.) Steudel [?] Cited: Crosby.
Tonga Vava‘u Group	Vava‘u Island	introduced invasive	Burkill, I. H. (1900) (p. 49)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	introduced	Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro (2004) (p. 188) As Datura suaveolens Humb. & Bonpl.
Perú Perú	Perú (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Taiwan Taiwan	Taiwan Island	introduced cultivated	Ching-I Peng, ed. (2011) "Long persistent after cultivation".

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

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

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

References:

Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John. 2011. Naturalized species in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, Chile. Unpublished spreadsheet.

Burkill, I. H. 1900. The flora of Vavau, one of the Tonga Islands, with a short account of its vegetation by Charles Steele Crosby. Lin. Jour. Bot. 35:20-65.

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

Charles Darwin Research Station. 2005. CDRS Herbarium records.

Ching-I Peng, ed. 2011. Digital flora of Taiwan (online resource).

Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido. 2006. Nouveau catalogue de la flore vaculaire de l'archipel Juan Fernández (Chile) [Nuevo catálogo de la flora vacular del Archipélago Juan Fernández (Chile)]. Acta Bot. Gallica 153(4):399-587.

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).

Gargominy, Oliver/Bouchet, Philipe/Pascal, Michel/Jaffre, Tanguy/Tourneu, Jean-Christophe. 1996. Conséquences des introductions d'espèces animales et végétales sur la biodiversité en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Rev. Ecol. (Terre Vie) 51:375-401.

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

McCormack, Gerald. 2011. Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga.

Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro. 2004. Invasive alien species in Japan: the status quo and the new regulation for prevention of their adverse effects. Global Environmental Research 8(2)/2004: 171-191.

Orchard, Anthony E., ed. 1994. Flora of Australia. Vol. 49, Oceanic islands 1. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.

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.

Swarbrick, John T. 1997. Weeds of the Pacific Islands. Technical paper no. 209. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. 124 pp.

Sykes, W. R. 1977. Kermadec Islands flora: an annotated checklist. New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Bulletin 219, Wellington. 216 pp.

Sykes, W. R./West, C. J. 1996. New records and other information on the vascular flora of the Kermadec Islands. New Zealand Journal of Botany 34:447-462.

Tassin, Jacques. 2005. Jacques Tassin (IAC-CIRAD), personal communication.

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

Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch. 1365 pp.

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