Polyscias cumingiana (Presl) Fern.-Vill., Araliaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Evaluate, score: 3 (Go to the risk assessment)

Other Latin names:  Aralia filicifolia C. Moore ex E. Fourn.; Polyscias filicifolia (C. Moore ex E. Fourn.) L. H. Bailey; Polyscias rumphiana Harms

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: xian ye nan yang shen

English: angelica, fern-leaf aralia, golden prince panax, Malaysian aralia, polyscias

Fijian: ndanindani

Maori (Cook Islands): kaope pā, kāpaiē, kāpaiē, kāpaiē

Samoan: tagitagi, tanetane, tanitani

Tongan: tanetane

Tongarevan (spoken): kāpaiē

Tongarevan (written): kāpaiē

Habit:  shrub/tree

Description:  "Shrubs or treelets, 1.5-4 m tall, andromonoecious. Leaves 1- or 2-pinnate; petiole 8-20 cm, clasping at base, alate for 3-4.5 cm with membranous wings; petiolules 0.5-3 cm; leaflets 9-15, often variegated, elliptic to lanceolate or ovate, often narrowly so, 10-35 x 2-10 cm, papery, base obtuse to attenuate, margin entire to coarsely crenate, often with minute teeth, apex acuminate or acute to obtuse. Inflorescence terminal, pendent, a panicle of umbels; primary axis 15-30 cm; secondary axes 5-7, usually in verticils, 20-80 (-140) cm; tertiary axes 10-25 per secondary axis, mostly grouped in 2-4 (or 5) verticils, with a terminal umbellule of bisexual flowers and 2-6 lateral umbellules of staminate flowers, or further divided into 4th order axes; pedicels 4-8 mm (shorter in staminate flowers). Ovary (2 or)3-5-carpellate; styles free nearly to base, 1-1.4 mm at anthesis, diverging, expanding in fruit to 1.7 mm. Fruit subglobose to broadly ovoid, 3-4(-5) mm high, base often shallowly cordate"  (Flora of China online).

Habitat/ecology:  In Fiji, "occasionally cultivated near sea level as a shrub 3-4 m high, probably always sterile in cultivation"  (Smith, 1985; pp. 639-640).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Indonesia (West Papua), Moluccas, New Caledonia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippine Islands; cultivated elsewhere in the paleotropics (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Cook Islands Southern Cook Islands	‘Atiu Island	introduced cultivated	McCormack, Gerald (2011)
Cook Islands Southern Cook Islands	Mangaia Island	introduced cultivated	McCormack, Gerald (2011)
Cook Islands Southern Cook Islands	Ma‘uke Island	introduced cultivated	McCormack, Gerald (2011)
Cook Islands Southern Cook Islands	Rarotonga Island	introduced cultivated	McCormack, Gerald (2011)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Santa Cruz Group	Santa Cruz Island	introduced	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Fiji Fiji Islands	Viti Levu Island	introduced cultivated	Smith, Albert C. (1985) (p. 640) Voucher cited: DA 16471
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Ua Pou (Huapu, Uapou, Uapu) Island	introduced cultivated	Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. (2008) Voucher cited: L.D. Dunn, D.L. Lorence 467 (BISH, P, PAP, PTBG, US)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1952) (voucher ID: BISH 446473) Taxon name on voucher: Polyscias cumingiana (Presl) Fern.-Vill.
Marshall Islands Ralik Chain	Jaluit (Jãlwõj) Atoll	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1979) (p. 197) As Polyscias filicifolia (Moore) Bailey
Marshall Islands Ratak Chain	Majuro (Mãjro) Atoll	introduced cultivated	Vander Velde, Nancy (2003) (p. 66) Planted ornamental.
New Caledonia Îles Loyauté (Loyalte Islands)	Île Lifou	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 18) Voucher cited: MacKee 5276
New Caledonia New Caledonia	New Caledonia Islands	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (pp. 18-19) Vouchers cited: MacKee 13991; MacKee 14670, MacKee 40319, Lowry 3313
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (eastern New Guinea Island)	Papua New Guinea (eastern New Guinea Island)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

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)	introduced cultivated	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2011) Cultivated in Fujian (Xiamen) and Hainan (Haikou).
Indonesia Indonesia	West Papua Province (Indonesia) (western New Guinea Island) (formerly Irian Jaya)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Malaysia Malaysia	Malaysia (country of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Singapore Singapore	Singapore (Republic of)	introduced cultivated	Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. (2009) (p. 71)

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

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

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

References:

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1952. Voucher specimen #BISH446473(Pearsall, G.A. s.n.).

Charles Darwin Foundation. 2008. Database inventory of introduced plant species in the rural and urban zones of Galapagos. Charles Darwin Foundation, Galapagos, Ecuador.

Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. 2009. A checklist of the total vascular plant flora of Singapore: native, naturalised and cultivated species. Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore. 273 pp.

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

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

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

McCormack, Gerald. 2011. Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga.

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

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.

Vander Velde, Nancy. 2003. The vascular plants of Majuro Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands. Smithsonian Institution, Atoll Research Bulletin No. 503:1-141.

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