Tarlmounia elliptica (DC.) H.Rob., S.C.Keeley, Skvarla & R.Chan, Asteraceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Evaluate, score: 6 (Go to the risk assessment).

Other Latin names:  Vernonia elliptica DC.

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: guang yao teng

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Plants scandent, with slender stems, pith solid; stems, undersides of leaves, and peduncles densely silvery sericeous with long-armed T-shaped hairs. Leaves alternate, short-petiolate; blade oblong to obovate, base obtuse, margins entire to remotely denticulate, apex rounded to apiculate, upper surface green, nearly glabrous, with few scattered hairs, undersurfaces densely sericeous with slender, appressed T-shaped hairs, secondary veins pinnate, 4-6, irregularly arching toward tip. Inflorescences terminal on branches, narrowly pyramidal with usually short, lateral corymbiform branches and branchlets, mature branches usually deflected at nodes; heads in small rather dense clusters; involucral bracts imbricated in ca. 5 series, broadly obtuse to rounded at tip, inner bracts tardily deciduous; receptacle glabrous. Florets ca. 5; corollas white or pale purple in bud and becoming white, ca. 6 mm long, texture of corolla wall thin, funnelform from ca. 1.5 mm above base, without hairs, with scattered glands; anther thecae tailed with minimal basal fringe, apical appendage narrowly oblong; style base broadened with annulus of sclerified cells; upper shaft and branches of style with blunt sweeping hairs. Achenes 5-sided, rarely with extra angle, without hairs, with glandular dots, with numerous idioblasts on surface, with scattered small rhombic or short oblong raphids in wall; carpopodium narrowly stopper-shaped, nearly cylindrical, longer than wide; pappus of numerous slender bristles, narrow near base, broadened distally, somewhat fragile, with few short bristles interspersed"  (Robinson & Skvarla, 2010; p. 270).

Also description (as Vernonia elliptica) in the Digital Flora of Taiwan and the Flora of China online.

Habitat/ecology:  (no habitat/ecology info known by PIER)

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  "India and southeast Asia"  (Digital Flora of Taiwan).

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	Maui Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (1998) (voucher ID: BISH 661862) Taxon name on voucher: Vernonia elliptica DC.
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island		Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.) (year unknown) (voucher ID: BISH 453867) Taxon name on voucher: Vernonia elliptica DC.

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 invasive cultivated	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2011) Occasionally cultivated, locally escaped and naturalized.
China China	Hong Kong	introduced cultivated	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2011)
Malaysia Malaysia	Malaysia (country of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Singapore Singapore	Singapore (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Taiwan Taiwan	Taiwan Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Ching-I Peng, ed. (2011) "Occasionally cultivated, locally escaped and naturalized in the south".
Thailand Thailand	Thailand (Kingdom of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Vietnam Vietnam	Vietnam (Socialist Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

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

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

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

References:

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 0. Voucher specimen #BISH453867(Carr, G. s.n.).

Bishop Museum (U.S.A. Hawaii. Honolulu.). 1998. Voucher specimen #BISH661862(Starr, F. 980204-10).

Ching-I Peng, ed. 2011. Digital flora of Taiwan (online resource).

Robinson, Harold/Skvarla, John J. 2010. Genera of the Vernonieae (Asteraceae) of China with a study of their pollen. Taiwania, 55(3): 254-272, 2010.

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

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