Gomphrena celosioides Mart., Amaranthaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: yin hua xian

English: gomphrena weed

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Annual or perennial herbs; stems ascending to erect, 1-2 dm long, rather sparsely branched, appressed pilose with white silky hairs.  Leaves oblong-lanceolate to oblong-obovate, 1.5-4.5 cm long, 0.5-1.3 cm wide, upper surface subglabrous, lower surface white pilose, often densely white pilose in the leaf axils, narrowed into an indistinct petiole at base.  Flowers in terminal and axillary, cylindrical spikes 1-2 cm long and ca. 1 cm in diameter, rachis and upper part of stems densely white pilose, lower flowers deciduous after anthesis and rachis tending to elongate, sometimes resulting in a bract-bearing rachis 3-5 cm long with flowers persistent only in a terminal rounded tuft, each inflorescence subtended by a pair of leaves shorter than the inflorescence, bracts ovate, ca. 3 mm long, apex acuminate, the midrib shortly excurrent into a sharp point, bracteoles 4.5-5.5 mm long, laterally compressed, keeled, dorsal crest along the keel variously developed, confined to upper 1/3 of bracteole, often inconspicuous with 1-2 teeth, occasionally well-developed near apex of bracteole, sometimes absent or vestigial; calyx ca. 4-4.5 mm long, the lobes narrow, attenuate; ovary subglobose; stigmas 2, branches divergent or becoming erect. Utricles ca. 1.7 mm long.  Seed brown, lustrous, ca. 1.5 mm long"  (Wagner et al., 1999; pp. 192, 1857).

Habitat/ecology:  In Hawai‘i, "recently naturalized on O‘ahu" (Wagner et al., 1999; pp. 192, 1857). In Papua New Guinea, "a common plant of roadsides, and sometimes invading pastures as a weed" (Henty & Pritchard, 1975; p. 58); "a weed of dry open places, often along roads or near wharfs and airfields at low altitudes"  (Womersley, 1978; p. 37).  In New Caledonia, "mauvaise herbe paraissant d'introduction récente; devient assez commun à Nouméa" (MacKee, 1994; p. 12).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  South America (Wagner et al., 1999; pp. 192, 1857).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced invasive	Stone, Benjamin C. (1970) (p. 270)
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1979) (p. 70)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R. (1995) (p. 15) Voucher cited: Flynn 1977 (BISH, PTBG)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 192) Voucher cited: K. Nagata 2730 (HLA)
Japan (offshore islands) Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands	Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands	introduced	Kato, Hidetoshi (2007)
New Caledonia New Caledonia	New Caledonia Islands		Swarbrick, John T. (1997) (p. 92)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive	Tassin, Jacques (2005)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 12) Vouchers cited: MacKee 15571, MacKee 18317, MacKee 24830, MacKee 29583, MacKee 34644, MacKee 41014
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (eastern New Guinea Island)	Papua New Guinea (eastern New Guinea Island)	introduced invasive	Henty, E. E./Pritchard, G. H. (1975) (p. 58) At low altitudes, mainly in areas of high rainfall.
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (eastern New Guinea Island)	Papua New Guinea (eastern New Guinea Island)	introduced invasive	Womersley, John S., ed. (1978) (p. 37)
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands	introduced invasive	Waterhouse, D. F. (1993) (pp. 66, 77)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Australia (continental)		Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. (1979) (p. 173)
China China	China (People's Republic of)	probably introduced invasive	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2011) "Roadsides, waste places".
China China	Hong Kong	introduced cultivated	Wu, Te-lin (2001) (p. 79) Ornamental.
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)	introduced invasive	Waterhouse, D. F. (1993) (pp. 66, 77)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	introduced	Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro (2004) (p. 182)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 99) "Collected wild at Silverdale".
Singapore Singapore	Singapore (Republic of)	introduced invasive	Waterhouse, D. F. (1993) (pp. 66, 77)
Taiwan Taiwan	Taiwan Island		Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. (1979) (p. 173)
Thailand Thailand	Thailand (Kingdom of)	introduced invasive	Waterhouse, D. F. (1993) (pp. 66, 77)
Vietnam Vietnam	Vietnam (Socialist Republic of)	introduced invasive	Waterhouse, D. F. (1993) (pp. 66, 77)

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia (Indian Ocean offshore islands) Christmas Island Group	Christmas Island	introduced invasive	Swarbrick, J. T. (1997) (p. 115)

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

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

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

References:

Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce. 1979. A geographical checklist of the Micronesian dicotyledonae. Micronesica 15:1-295.

Henty, E. E./Pritchard, G. H. 1975. Weeds of New Guinea and their control. 2nd edition. Department of Forests, Division of Botany, Botany Bull. No. 7. Lae, Papua New Guinea. 180 pp.

Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. 1979. A geographical atlas of world weeds. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 391 pp.

Kato, Hidetoshi. 2007. Herbarium records of Makino Herbarium, Tokyo Metropolitan University. Personal communication.

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

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.

Stone, Benjamin C. 1970. The flora of Guam. Micronesica 6:1-659.

Swarbrick, J. T. 1997. Environmental weeds and exotic plants on Christmas Island, Indian Ocean: a report to Parks Australia. 101 pp. plus appendix.

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

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

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R. 1995. Contributions to the Flora of Hawai‘i. IV. New Records and name changes. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Miller, Scott, E., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 1994. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 42:13-27.

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).

Waterhouse, D. F. 1993. The major arthropod pests and weeds of agriculture in Southeast Asia. The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Canberra. 141 pp.

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.

Womersley, John S., ed. 1978. Handbooks of the flora of Papua New Guinea, vol. 1. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne. 278 pp.

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).