Sherardia arvensis L., Rubiaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Reject, score: 7 (Go to the risk assessment).

Common name(s): [more details]

English: blue field-madder, field-madder, herb-sherard, shérardie des champs

Habit:  herb

Description:  Slender annual herbs; stems prostrate, quadrangular, 1-4 dm long, sparsely scabrid with small deflexed hairs.  Leaves and leaf-like stipules in whorls of 4-6 per node, stiff and pungent.  Lower leaves obovate-cuspidate, quickly withering, upper leaves oblanceolate, 5-20 mm long, 1-5 mm wide, apex mucronate.  Flowers in involucrate clusters, the involucral segments up to 10, connate;  4-10 per head; sepals 4-6, persistent; corolla 4-5 mm long, blue or pink, funnelform, 4-5-lobed; stamens 4-5; ovules 1 per cell; style filiform, 2-lobed. Fruit didymous, 2-7 mm long, scabrid, dry, forming 2 indehiscent cocci.  Seeds 1 per coccus  (adapted from Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1171).

Description from Flora of Australia online.
Description from Flora of New Zealand online.

Habitat/ecology:  In Hawai‘i, "naturalized in dry, open, disturbed sites, 600-2,270 m"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1171).  In New Zealand, "locally common to abundant, especially poor, depleted or short pastures and lawns, and waste places, also cultivated land, roadside banks, streamsides and tussock grasslands to c. 500 m"  (Webb et al., 1988; 1150).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Eurasia  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1171).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia (Pacific offshore islands) Lord Howe Island	Lord Howe Island	introduced invasive	Australian Biological Resources Study (2011)
Australia (Pacific offshore islands) Norfolk Islands	Norfolk Island	introduced invasive	Australian Biological Resources Study (2011)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island)	introduced invasive	Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John (2011)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island)	introduced invasive cultivated	Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido (2006) (pp. 498, 544, 557) Voucher cited: Danton I(5/255)1598. "En RC, se encuentra por aqui y allá como adventicia en el territorio de la Ilustre Municipalidad de Juan Fernández (paredes del Fuerte Santa Bárbara, pastos en los alrededores de El Pangal) y en SC, donde una gran población ya está presente en las pendientes del Cerro Johow.  Es una especie de la cual su rápida dispersión está unida con las introducciones de ganado y forraje procedentes del continente y de los movimientos entre islas".
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Santa Clara	introduced invasive	Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John (2011)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Santa Clara	introduced invasive cultivated	Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido (2006) (pp. 498, 544, 557) Voucher cited: Danton I(5/326)1673. "En RC, se encuentra por aqui y allá como adventicia en el territorio de la Ilustre Municipalidad de Juan Fernández (paredes del Fuerte Santa Bárbara, pastos en los alrededores de El Pangal) y en SC, donde una gran población ya está presente en las pendientes del Cerro Johow.  Es una especie de la cual su rápida dispersión está unida con las introducciones de ganado y forraje procedentes del continente y de los movimientos entre islas".
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1171)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1171) East Maui. Voucher cited: Faurie 988 (BISH)
New Zealand (offshore islands) Kermadec Islands	Kermadec Islands	introduced invasive	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 1150)

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)	New South Wales	introduced invasive	National Herbarium of New South Wales (2011) "Weed of gardens and disturbed areas".
Australia Australia (continental)	Northern Territory	introduced invasive	National Herbarium of New South Wales (2011) "Weed of gardens and disturbed areas".
Canada Province of British Columbia	Canada (British Columbia)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)
Canada Canada	Canada (country)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	introduced	Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro (2004) (p. 187)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 1150)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (Oregon)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (California)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (Washington)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. 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)
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	USA (Florida)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)

Additional information:
Information from the University of Tennessee.

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

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

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

References:

Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John. 2011. Naturalized species in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, Chile. Unpublished spreadsheet.

Australian Biological Resources Study. 2011. Flora of Australia Online. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.

Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido. 2006. Nouveau catalogue de la flore vaculaire de l'archipel Juan Fernández (Chile) [Nuevo catálogo de la flora vacular del Archipélago Juan Fernández (Chile)]. Acta Bot. Gallica 153(4):399-587.

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.

National Herbarium of New South Wales. 2011. PlantNet: New South Wales Flora online. The Plant Information Network System of the Botanic Gardens Trust Version 2.0. Online 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.

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).

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.