Filicium decipiens (Wight & Arn.) Thwaites, Sapindaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Evaluate, score: 1 (Go to the risk assessment)

Common name(s): [more details]

English: fern leaf tree, fern tree, soapberry

Habit:  tree

Description:  "A middle-sized tree, leaf scars large and prominent.  Leaves pinnate, leaflets 6-8 pair, glabrous, shining, opposite or some alternate, sessile, linear oblong, 4-6 in. long, midrib prominent.  Rachis with a leafy wing on either side between the leaflets, broad at top, narrowing downwards.  Flowers small, numerous, unisexual, pentamerous, in erect narrow axillary panicles, 6-8 in. long.  Sepals narrowly imbricate, glabrous, persistent, petals in male flowers as long as calyx, in female small.  Disk very hairy.  Ovary globose, 2-celled, 1 ovule in each cell, style short, curved,  Drupe ovoid, 1/2 in. diameter, apiculate, purple shining, seed 1, cotyledons much crumpled" (Brandis, 1921; pp. 188-189).

"Tree to 20 m tall. Macrophyll. Leaves compound (pinnate), not deciduous. No thorns or buttresses. Fruit a drupe, about 0.5 cm in diameter" (Friis, 1992).

Habitat/ecology:  "Afromontane rain forest (a local dry subtype transitional to woodland near the lower limit) and undifferentiated Afromontane forest. Elsewhere mostly in riverine forest. Altitudinal range: about 1600 m. Rainfall range: about 1000 mm/year" (Friis, 1992).  "Western Ghats ascending to 4-5000 ft.; Ceylon, in the central province, ascending to 3000 ft." (Hooker, 1872; p. 540).

Propagation:  Seed, possibly spread by fruit-eating birds.

Native range:  Western Ghats [India] from Malabar southwards, Ceylon, eastern tropical Africa (Brandis, 1921; pp. 188-189).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Fiji Fiji Islands	Vanua Levu Island	introduced cultivated	Smith, Albert C. (1985) (p. 617) Voucher cited: DA 12210
Fiji Fiji Islands	Viti Levu Island	introduced cultivated	Smith, Albert C. (1985) (p. 617) Vouchers cited: DA 5593, DA 15599, DA 2671, DA 7401 (L.3976), DA 13700 (L.8194)
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Ua Huka (Huahuna, Uahuka) Island	introduced cultivated	Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. (2008)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Oppenheimer, Hank L. (2003) (p. 24) Voucher cited: Oppenheimer H70139 (BISH, PTBG)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Oppenheimer, Hank L. (2003) (p. 24) West Maui. Voucher cited: Oppenheimer H30134 (BISH, PTBG)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. (2004) (p. 28) East Maui. Voucher cited: Starr & Starr 020617-2 (BISH) Seedlings under trees and nearby, spreading from plantings.
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Staples, George W./Imada, Clyde T./Herbst, Derral R. (2002) (p. 15) Voucher cited: C. Imada & G. Staples 2000-10 (BISH)

Comments:  Reported naturalizing in Hawai‘i per communication of Hank Oppenheimer to HEAR.

"[C]ommonly cultivated in Hawai‘i and may escape cultivation." (Wagner et al., 1999).

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

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

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

References:

Brandis, D. 1907. Indian trees. Archibald Constable & Co., London. p. 139.

Hooker, J. D. 1897. The Flora of British India. L. Reeve & Co. Vol. VII, p. 319.

Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. 2008. Flora of the Marquesas Islands. National Tropical Botanical Garden and the Smithsonian Institution. Online database.

Oppenheimer, Hank L. 2003. New plant records from Maui and Hawai‘i Counties. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2001-2002. Part 1: Articles. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 73:3-30.

Smith, Albert C. 1985. Flora Vitiensis nova: a new flora of Fiji. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Kauai, Hawaii. Volume 3. 758 pp.

Staples, George W./Imada, Clyde T./Herbst, Derral R. 2002. New Hawaiian plant records for 2000. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2000. Part 1: Articles. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 68:3-18.

Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. 2004. New plant records from the Hawaiian Archipelago. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2003. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 79:20-30.

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).