Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Threat only at high elevations?  no

Habit:  shrub

Description: 

Genus:  "About 160 species of glabrous, perennial subshrubs, native to S. Africa; branches creeping, decumbent to erect; leaves opposite, many, slightly united, cylindrical to 3-angled, more or less curved; flowers solitary or in cymes, calyx 5-lobed, petals white, pink, red, purple or yellow to orange, in several series, stamens many, staminodes present or absent, glandular ting present, ovary inferior, 5-celled, stigmas 5; fruit a 5-valved capsule, cell lids winged, expanding keels with marginal wings, placental tubercles absent" (Bailey & Bailey, 1976).

Species:  "Shrub, stems ascending; leaves somewhat reddish, to 1 1/2 in. long, cylindrical to 3-angled, apex rather blunt, spiny; flowers to 1 1/2 in. across, in 3's, petals purple" (Bailey & Bailey, 1976; p. 634).

"Branches suberect; leaves crowded, green, incurved, erect, cylindrically-triquetrous, bluntish, mucronulate; flowers purplish, filaments white" (Harvey & Sonder, 1894; p. 419).

Habitat/ecology:  Will survive a short period at 20°F (-7°C). Full sun, but requires shade in summer.  Needs regular water in summer in Phoenix, Arizona, USA; little to moderate water the rest of the year, needs good drainage (Desert Tropicals).

Propagation:  Seed (Bailey & Bailey, 1976; p. 634).

Native range:  Cape Province, South Africa (Bailey & Bailey, 1976; p. 634).

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	Hawaiian Islands	introduced cultivated	Staples, George W./Herbst, Derral R. (2005) (p. 98)

Comments:  Reported as possibly an invasive plant in the Galápagos Islands per Charles Darwin Research Station.

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

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

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

References:

Bailey, L. H./Bailey, E. Z. 1976. Hortus third: A concise dictionary of plants cultivated in the United States and Canada. Macmillan, New York. 1290 pp.

Harvey, Willam H./Sonder, Otto Wilhelm. 1894. Fora Capensis, being a systematic description of the plants of the Cape Colony, Caffraria, & Port Natal. L. Reeve & Co.

Staples, George W./Herbst, Derral R. 2005. A tropical garden flora: plants cultivated in the Hawaiian Islands and other tropical places. Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 908 pp.