Tamarix aphylla (L.) H.Karst., Tamaricaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results: 

Hawai‘i/Pacific:  High risk, score: 13 (Go to the risk assessment)
Risk assessment from the Government of Queensland, Australia (PDF format).

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: wu ye cheng liu

English: athel pine, athel tamarisk, salt-cedar, tamarix

French: tamaris

Spanish: taray

Habit:  shrub/tree

Description:  "Tree up to 10 (-15) m high.  Smaller branchlets apparently articulated, enclosed by the abruptly truncate and minutely apiculate sheathing leaf-bases 1.5-4 mm long, 1 mm in diameter, usually with a dusty grey glandular efflorescence; larger branchlets with persistent scale-like leaves. Racemes crowded near end of current year's growth, usually 4-6 cm long, 3-4 mm in diameter; bracts sheathing, concave, less than 1 mm long, acute.  Flowers subsessile, about 3 mm long, 1.5 mm wide.  Sepals 5, suborbicular, 1 mm long, greenish or pinkish.  Petals 5, oblong, 2 mm long, 1 mm wide, obtuse, white.  Disk irregularly lobed between insertion of filaments, dull red.  Stamens 5; filaments equaling or exceeding petals, slender white; anthers shortly apiculate.  Ovary about 1.5 mm long; carpels 3; styles erect, suberect or incurved, one-third to one-half as long as ovary; stigmas elliptic, concave.  Valves of ripe capsule 4-5 mm long.  Seeds terete, 0.5 mm long, brown; apical coma 3 mm long" (Hunt, 1966; pp. 1, 3).

Habitat/ecology:  "Desert scrub and washes, riparian habitats, disturbed sites.  Where native, this fast growing and salt tolerant tree grows commonly in oases and along ephemeral streams.  The plant forms extensive and dense thickets and the deeply penetrating roots often low the water table while surface soil salinity increases due to salt excretion.  Native plants are eliminated under stands of this tree and wildlife habitats are reduced.  Stands of this tree increase sedimentation rates by trapping and stabilizing sediment during floods"  (Weber, 2003; p. 428).  Commonly becomes established along stream courses. In Africa, "beside seasonal rivers in deciduous bushland; 200-400 m" (Hunt, 1966; pp. 1, 3).  "Athel pine is drought resistant and is well suited to arid and semi-arid rangelands. It is tolerant of saline and alkaline soils and, although it flourishes best in and around rivers, is not restricted to the riverine environment"  (Australian Weed Management Guide).

Propagation:  Seed, but also commonly spread from broken living plants by flood water.  The seed is short-lived.  Established colonies can expand by suckers (Csurhes & Edwards, 1998; pp. 198-199).  "Seeds are dispersed mainly by flood waters but also by animals.  The tree suckers from roots"  (Weber, 2003; p. 428).

Native range:  Africa and Asia (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced	Raulerson, L. (2006) (p. 31)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1280)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaho‘olawe Island	introduced cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1280)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Lāna‘i Island	introduced cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1280)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1280)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Moloka‘i Island	introduced cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1280)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 1280)
Kiribati Phoenix Islands	Kanton Island	introduced cultivated	Fosberg, F. R./Stoddart, D. R. (1994) (p. 49) Vouchers cited: Fosberg & Stoddart 54781 (US, HAW, K), Fosberg 39877 (US), Degener & Hatheway 21306, Luomala 23 (BISH), Clapp P-71-12 (US)
Kiribati Phoenix Islands	Kanton Island	introduced	Luomala, Katharine (1951) (p. 173) Voucher cited: Luomala 23
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 135) Vouchers cited: MacKee 18379, MacKee 41096

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)	Northern Territory	introduced invasive cultivated	Csurhes, S./Edwards, R. (1998) (pp. 198-199)
Australia Australia (continental)	Queensland	introduced invasive cultivated	Csurhes, S./Edwards, R. (1998) (pp. 198-199) Naturalized one location.
Taiwan Taiwan	Taiwan Island	introduced cultivated	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2011)

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia (Indian Ocean offshore islands) Christmas Island Group	Christmas Island	introduced cultivated	Swarbrick, J. T. (1997) (p. 129)

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., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011) Naturalized

Comments:  "Cuttings...have been established [in Hawai‘i] as ornamentals, for erosion control, and as windbreaks.  These plants flower profusely; however, they are not known to produce seed, and therefore have not become naturalized"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 1280).

A "weed of national significance" in Australia.

Control: 

Physical:  "Small plants can be dug out but as much of the root system as possible must be removed to prevent resprouting".

Chemical:  "Larger trees are cut at ground level and the cut stumps treated with picloram plus 2,4-D, or triclopyr plus picloram plus 2,4-D.  The same herbicides can be used to control regrowth"  (Weber, 2003; p. 428).

Additional information:
Fact sheet from the Alien Plant Working Group.
Information from the Bugwood Wiki.
Information from the World Agroforestry Centre's AgroForestryTree Database.
Weed Management Guide from the Government of Australia. (PDF format).
Species profile from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Invasive Species Information Center.

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

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

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

References:

Csurhes, S./Edwards, R. 1998. Potential environmental weeds in Australia: Candidate species for preventative control. Canberra, Australia. Biodiversity Group, Environment Australia. 208 pp.

Fosberg, F. R./Stoddart, D. R. 1994. Flora of the Phoenix Islands, central Pacific. Smithsonian Institution, Washington. Atoll Research Bulletin 393. 60 pp.

Hickman, J. C. 1993. The Jepson manual: higher plants of California. U. Cal. Press, Berkeley. 1400 pp.

Hunt, D. R. 1966. Tamaricaceae. In: Milne-Redhead, E. and R. M. Polhill. Flora of tropical east Africa. Crown Agents, London.

Luomala, Katharine. 1951. Plants of Canton Island, Phoenix Islands. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 20(11):157-174.

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

Raulerson, L. 2006. Checklist of Plants of the Mariana Islands. University of Guam Herbarium Contribution 37:1-69. .

Swarbrick, J. T. 1997. Environmental weeds and exotic plants on Christmas Island, Indian Ocean: a report to Parks Australia. 101 pp. plus appendix.

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

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).

Weber, Ewald. 2003. Invasive plants of the World. CABI Publishing, CAB International, Wallingford, UK. 548 pp.

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