Thunbergia laurifolia Lindl., Acanthaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Threat only at high elevations?  no

Other Latin names:  Thunbergia grandiflora var. laurifolia (Lindley) Benoist, Thunbergia harrisii Hook.

Common name(s): [more details]

English: laurel clock vine, laurel-leaved clockvine, laurel-leaved thunbergia, purple allamanda

Habit:  vine

Description:  "Climbers with ovate-oblong or sublanceolate subentire to slightly crenate leaves, obtuse or subcordate, acute-acuminate, pinnately nerved, glabrous, mostly 7-18 cm long and 2.5-6 cm wide, on petioles up to 6 cm long; bracteoles persistent, 4-5 cm long; calyx truncate; corolla blue-violet to white, tube 3.5-4.5 cm long, limb 6-8 cm broad; capsule up to 1.5 cm wide, the beak to 3 cm long" (Stone, 1970; p. 537).

"Differs from [T.] grandiflora principally in the narrower, 3-7 cm wide, ovate to oblong, rarely lobed but frequently very coarsely repand-serrate leaves, acuminate at apex, usually shorter petioles and more slender, often shorter pedicels, often more congested racemes.  The narrower leaves give a somewhat different aspect to the plant, but there is scarcely a break between the two varieties" (Fosberg et al., 1993; p. 41).

Habitat/ecology:  Climbing vine. Moist areas at low elevations.

Propagation:  Seeds, cuttings, and fragments of stems and roots. Cultivated as an ornamental and can spread from dumping of garden cuttings.

Native range:  Southeast Asia.

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	Rarotonga Island		Sykes, Bill (year unknown) Naturalized on the basalt cliff behind Avarua per Sykes.
Fiji Fiji Islands	Viti Levu Island	introduced invasive	Smith, Albert C. (1991) (p. 120) Voucher cited: DA 10402
French Polynesia Society Islands	Raiatea (Havai) Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Welsh, S. L. (1998) (p. 24) Voucher cited: BRY 25407
French Polynesia Society Islands	Taha‘a Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Welsh, S. L. (1998) (p. 24) Voucher cited: Fosberg 36549
French Polynesia Society Islands	Taha‘a Island		Bishop Museum (Honolulu) (1982) (voucher ID: BISH 599735) Taxon name on voucher: Thunbergia laurifolia Lindl.
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Welsh, S. L. (1998) (p. 24) Vouchers cited: Fosberg 62923, Grant 4305
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island		Bishop Museum (Honolulu) (1982) (voucher ID: BISH 492849) Taxon name on voucher: Thunbergia laurifolia Lindl.
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced cultivated	Stone, Benjamin C. (1970) (p. 537)
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1979) (p. 260)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive	Oppenheimer, Hank L. (2003) (p. 4) Vouchers cited: Oppenheimer H70130 (BISH, PTBG), Oppenheimer H70136 (BISH, PTBG) Common and locally abundant.
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 175-176)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Lāna‘i Island	introduced invasive	Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. (2006) (p. 31) Voucher cited: Starr, Starr, Anderson & Anderson 050623-4 (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Starr, Forest/Martz, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. (1999) (p. 11) East Maui. Voucher cited: Starr & Martz 980507-7 (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 175-176)
Japan (offshore islands) Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands	Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands	introduced invasive	Toyoda, Takeshi (2003) (p. 289) Naturalized
Japan (offshore islands) Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands	Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands	introduced	Kato, Hidetoshi (2007)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced cultivated	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (pp. 9-10) Vouchers cited: Guillaumin 8600, Blanchon 1066, MacKee 20618
Samoa Western Samoa Islands	Upolu Island	introduced invasive	Space, James C./Flynn, Tim (2002) (p. 68)
Solomon Islands Solomon Islands	Kolombagara Island	introduced invasive	Orapa, Warea (2005) Ringgi
Vanuatu New Hebrides Islands	Êfaté (Efete) Island		Bishop Museum (Honolulu) (1986) (voucher ID: BISH 523781) Taxon name on voucher: Thunbergia laurifolia Lindl.
Wallis and Futuna Wallis and Futuna (Horne) Islands	Futuna (Horne) Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Orapa, Warea (2005) Large patch behind abandoned college.
Wallis and Futuna Wallis and Futuna (Horne) Islands	Wallis Island	introduced cultivated	Orapa, Warea (2005)

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 cultivated	Csurhes, S./Edwards, R. (1998) (p. 131)
Australia Australia (continental)	Queensland	introduced invasive	Csurhes, S./Edwards, R. (1998) (p. 131)

Comments:  Present but not particularly invasive in French Polynesia. Some small but serious infestations in Australia, where it is targeted for eradication.

Additional information:  Report (PDF format) from US Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Haleakala Field Station, Hawai‘i "Plants of Hawaii".
Factsheet from the Department of Natural Resources, Queensland, Australia. (PDF format)

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

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

References:

Bishop Museum (Honolulu). 1982. Voucher specimen #BISH 492849 (Florence 3349).

Bishop Museum (Honolulu). 1982. Voucher specimen #BISH 599735 (Fosberg, F.R. 63549).

Bishop Museum (Honolulu). 1986. Voucher specimen #BISH 523781 (Krauss, N.L.H. 2006).

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. 1997. Preliminary checklist of the flowering plants and ferns of the Society Islands. Ed. by David R. Stoddart. U. Cal. Berkeley.

Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, M.-H./Oliver, R. L. 1993. Flora of Micronesia. Part 5. Bignoniaceae--Rubiaceae. Smithsonian Contrib. Bot. 81: 1-135.

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

Kato, Hidetoshi. 2007. Herbarium records of Makino Herbarium, Tokyo Metropolitan University. Personal communication.

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

Oppenheimer, Hank L. 2003. New plant records from Maui and Hawai‘i Counties. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2001-2002. Part 1: Articles. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 73:3-30.

Orapa, Warea. 2005. Warea Orapa, Weed Mangement Officer, Secretariat of the Pacific Community, pers. com. (Trip Report, Solomon Islands, 19 April to 10 May, 2005).

Orapa, Warea. 2005. Warea Orapa, Weed Mangement Officer, Secretariat of the Pacific Community, pers. com. (Trip Report, Wallis and Futuna Islands, 8 to 22 May, 2004).

Smith, Albert C. 1991. Flora Vitiensis nova: a new flora of Fiji. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Kauai, Hawaii. Volume 5. 626 pp.

Space, James C./Flynn, Tim. 2002. Report to the Government of Samoa on invasive plant species of environmental concern. USDA Forest Service, Honolulu. 83 pp.

Starr, Forest/Martz, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. 1999. New plant records from East Maui for 1998. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 1998. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 59:11-15.

Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. 2006. New plant records from the Hawaiian Archipelago. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucias G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2004-2005. Part 1: Articles. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 87:31-43.

Stone, Benjamin C. 1970. The flora of Guam. Micronesica 6:1-659.

Sykes, Bill. 0. Bill Sykes, pers. com.

Toyoda, Takeshi. 2003. Flora of the Bonin Islands. Aboc & Co. 522 pp.

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).

Welsh, S. L. 1998. Flora Societensis: A summary revision of the flowering plants of the Society Islands. E.P.S. Inc., Orem, Utah. 420 pp.

Whistler, W. A. 2000. Tropical ornamentals: a guide. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon. 542 pp.