Houttuynia cordata Thunb., Saururaceae

Click on an image for links to BIGGER PICTURES

Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  High risk, score: 8 (Go to the risk assessment)

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: ji cai

English: chameleon plant, Chinese lizard tail, edible houttuynia, fish mint, fish plant, fishwort, heartleaf, heartleaf houttuynia, Himalayan spinach, houttuynia, lizard's tail, Vietnamese fish plant, white chaplu, wild houttuynia

French: hottonie, houttuynie

Japanese: dokudami

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Herbs (5-) 30-60 cm high; rhizomes creeping, thin. Basal part of stems creeping, rooted in whorls at nodes, apical part erect, glabrous or pubescent on nodes, sometimes purplish red. Stipular sheath (0.5-) 1-2.5 cm, 1/4-1/2 as long as petiole, usually ciliate, base enlarged and slightly clasping; petiole (0.7-) 1-3.5 (-4) cm, glabrous; leaf blade broadly ovate or ovate-cordate, (1.5-) 4-10 x (1.8-) 2.5-6 cm, thinly papery, densely glandular, usually glabrous, sometimes pubescent at vein axils, usually purplish abaxially, base cordate, apex shortly acuminate; veins 5-7, basal or innermost pair arising ca. 5 mm above base, if 7-veined, then outermost pair very slender or inconspicuous; reticulate veins ± conspicuous. Inflorescences (0.4-) 1.5-2.5 (-2.7) cm x (2-) 5-6 mm; peduncles 1.5-3 cm, subglabrous; involucral bracts oblong or obovate, (5-) 10-15 x (3-) 5-7 mm, apex rounded. Bract beneath each flower linear, terete, inconspicuous. Stamens longer than ovary. Capsule 2-3 mm, with persistent styles"  (Flora of China online).

Habitat/ecology:  In China (native), "ravines, streamsides, forests, wet meadows, slopes, thicket and field margins, trailsides, roadsides, ditch banks; near sea level to 2500 m  (Flora of China online).

Propagation:  Seed and rhizomes.

Native range:  Bhutan, Nepal, China, Taiwan and Japan (including Ryukyu Islands (GRIN).

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	O‘ahu Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1978) (voucher ID: BISH 421652) Taxon name on voucher: Houttuynia cordata Thunb.
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 128) Voucher cited: MacKee 29487

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
China China	China (People's Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Japan Ryukyu Islands	Ryukyu Islands	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Taiwan Taiwan	Taiwan Island	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	United States (other states)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)

Additional information:
Information from the Global Invasive Species Database.

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

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

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

References:

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1978. Voucher specimen #BISH421652(Herbst, D.R. 6103).

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

Porcher, Michel H. 2011. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database. The University of Melbourne, Australia. Online resource.

U. S. Government. 2011. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (on-line resource).

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

U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. 2011. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong. 2011. Flora of China (online resource).