Priva lappulacea (L.) Pers., Verbenaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Other Latin names:  Priva echinata Juss.; Verbena lappulacea L.

Common name(s): [more details]

English: cat's tongue, clammy bur, fasten-'pon-coat, styptic bur, velvet bur, velvet burr

French: collant, gendarme

Spanish: cadillo, mozote

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Annual or perennial herb to 1 m tall; stems spreading and decumbent or procumbent; branches prostrate to ascending or erect, usually acutely tetragonal, often sulcate, pilose with curved or uncinate hairs, glabrescent below in age; larger nodes usually annulate with a band of longer hairs; petioles slender, 0.8-3 cm long, pilose; blades membranous, ovate, 1.4-14.5 cm long, 0.9-8.5 cm wide, acute or acuminate, uniformly and coarsely serrate, mostly subtruncate or subcordate (or acute when young) at base, pilose or strigose above, pilose beneath with scattered hairs and finer puberulence; inflorescences terminal on stems and branches, 4.5-21 cm long, 5-15 cm wide, many-flowered, the flowers loosely alternate on a puberulent-pilose rachis; peduncles slender, 0.8-5.8 cm long, more or less puberulent-pilose, leaves at base of peduncle often much reduced; bractlets usually surpassing pedicels during anthesis; calyx oblong-campanulate, 2-3.1 mm long, about 2.3 mm wide, densely short-tomentose with uncinate hairs about 0.3 mm long and interspersed straight hairs about 0.5 mm long, the calyx tube obscurely 5-ribbed only toward apex, its rim minutely 5-apiculate; corolla hypocrateriform, usually blue, pink, violet, or purple, occasionally lavender or white, with a few scattered hairs on both surfaces, tube broadly cylindric, straight, about 3.6 mm long adaxially, 3.3 mm long abaxially, 1.8 mm wide, the unequal lobes 1-1.8 mm long, all broadly elliptic-lingulate and rounded; upper pair of fertile stamens inserted about 1.5 mm, the lower pair about 1 mm, above base of corolla tube, included; ovary 4-celled, 4-ovulate; fruiting calyx broadly ovate, thin-membranous, conspicuously inflated, enclosing the fruit and short-beaked apically, 5-7 mm long, 3-4.5 mm wide, densely hispidulous with strongly clinging uncinate whitish hairs; schizocarp oblong, conspicuously quadrangular, glabrous, of 2 similar 2-celled, woody cocci, these about 3 mm long, 2 mm wide, the dorsal surface echinate with 2 parallel rows of short, straight spines 0.5-1 mm long, area between rows of spines obscurely scrobiculate-reticulate or transversely ridged, sides transversely and narrowly ridged, commissural faces plane or nearly so, not margined"  (Wiggins & Porter, 1971; p. 498).

Habitat/ecology:  "A nearly cosmopolitan weed" (Wiggins & Porter, 1971; p. 498). In disturbed areas such as roadsides and fields in both arid lowlands and moist uplands in the Galápagos Islands (McMullen, 1999; p. 257).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Florida, Texas, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America; naturalized elsewhere (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Floreana Group	Floreana Island	introduced invasive	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Isabela Group	Isabela Island	introduced invasive	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Isabela Group	Volcán Alcedo, Isabela Island	introduced invasive	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Isabela Group	Volcán Cerro Azul, Isabela Island	introduced invasive	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Isabela Group	Volcán Darwin, Isabela Island	introduced invasive	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Isabela Group	Volcán Sierra Negra, Isabela Island	introduced invasive	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) San Cristóbal Group	San Cristóbal Island	introduced invasive	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)
Ecuador (Galápagos Islands) Santa Cruz Group	Santa Cruz Island	introduced invasive	Charles Darwin Foundation (2008)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Central America Central America (Pacific rim)	Costa Rica (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
Central America Central America (Pacific rim)	El Salvador (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
Central America Central America (Pacific rim)	Guatemala (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
Central America Central America (Pacific rim)	Honduras (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
Central America Central America (Pacific rim)	Nicaragua (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
Central America Central America (Pacific rim)	Panama (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
South America (Pacific rim) South America (Pacific rim)	Colombia	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
South America (Pacific rim) South America (Pacific rim)	Ecuador (Republic of) (continental)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
South America (Pacific rim) South America (Pacific rim)	Perú (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)

Comments:  Probably not native to the Galápagos Islands, possibly introduced, per Charles Darwin Research Station.

Control:  If you know of control methods for Priva lappulacea, please let us know.