Fuchsia boliviana Carr., Onagraceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  yes

Common name(s): [more details]

English: earring flower, fuchsia, lady's eardrops

French: flambeau d'amour, fuchsia à grandes fleurs, fuchsia de bolivie

Habit:  tree

Description:  "Erect bushy shrubs or small trees 2-4.5 (-6) m tall; older stems usually hollow. Leaves opposite or ternate, sometimes alternate near uppermost branching nodes, narrowly to broadly elliptic or ovate, 5-20 (-23) cm long, 3-12 (-15) cm wide, upper surface puberulent to glabrate, lower surface puberulent, sometimes densely so, margins glandular denticulate, petioles 2-5 (-7) cm long. Flowers perfect, numerous in terminal, pendent racemes or few-branched panicles, pedicels slender, pendent, 5-12 (-16) mm long; floral tube red, narrowly funnelform, (25-) 30-60 (-70) mm long; sepals red, lanceolate, 10-20 mm long; petals scarlet, oblong to elliptic, 8-16 (-20) mm long; stamens exserted; filaments 8-15 mm long. Berries cylindrical, 10-26 mm long" (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 996).

Habitat/ecology:  Naturalized in mesic forests on Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i, 3000-5000 elevation.  "Forests and their margins, scrub, riparian areas and open wasteland.  Forms dense thickets up to 2m tall and is shade-tolerant.  Shades out smaller plants and seedlings, preventing native plants establishing"  (Weedbusters New Zealand).

Propagation:  Seed.  "Birds spread the seeds long distances"  (Weedbusters New Zealand).

Native range:  From northern Argentina to southern Peru, often cultivated and widely naturalized (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 996).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 996)

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)
Ecuador (Mainland) Ecuador	Ecuador (Republic of) (continental)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive cultivated	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 904) "Scrub and much modified forest around settlements".
Perú Perú	Perú (Republic of)	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
La Réunion (France) La Réunion Island	La Réunion Island	introduced invasive	MacDonald, I. A. W./Thebaud, C./Strahm, W. A./Strasberg, D. (1991) (pp. 51-61)
La Réunion (France) La Réunion Island	La Réunion Island	introduced invasive	Lavergne, Christophe (2006) "Envahissant"
La Réunion (France) La Réunion Island	La Réunion Island	introduced invasive	Kueffer, C./Lavergne, C. (2004) (p. 5)
La Réunion (France) La Réunion Island	La Réunion Island	introduced invasive	Baret, Stephane/Rouget, Mathieu/Richardson, David M./Lavergne, Christophe/Egoh, Benis/Dupont, Joel/Strasberg, Dominique (2006) (p. 758)

Comments:  On list of plants to be excluded from French Polynesia.

Control: 

Physical:  "Remove all seedlings and mulch. Dig out larger plants"  (Weedbusters New Zealand).

Additional information:
Information sheet from Weedbusters New Zealand.

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

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

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

References:

Baret, Stephane/Rouget, Mathieu/Richardson, David M./Lavergne, Christophe/Egoh, Benis/Dupont, Joel/Strasberg, Dominique. 2006. Current distribution and potential extent of the most invasive alien plant species on La Réunion (Indian Ocean, Mascarene islands). Austral Ecology (2006) 31, 747-758.

Comité français de l'Union Internationale pour la Conservation de la Nature en France. 2010. Les espéces envahissantes en outre-mer (online resource).

Kueffer, C./Lavergne, C. 2004. Case studies on the status of invasive woody plant species in the western Indian Ocean. 4. R233;union. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Forestry Department, Forest Resources Division, Forest Resources Development Service, Working Paper FBS/4-4E. 37 pp.

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

MacDonald, I. A. W./Thebaud, C./Strahm, W. A./Strasberg, D. 1991. Effects of alien plant invasions on native vegetation remnants on La Reunion (Mascarenes Islands, Indian Ocean). Environmental Conservation 18 (1):51-61.

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).

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.