Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Other Latin names:  Centratherum chinense Less.; Conyza patula Aiton; Cyanthillium patulum (Aiton) H. Rob.; Vernonia chinensis (Less.) Less.

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: xian xia hua

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Herbs, annual, 30-90 cm tall. Root vertical, with many fibrous rootlets. Stems erect, many branched, branches spreading, terete, conspicuously striate, gray puberulent and glandular. Lower leaves withered by anthesis; middle and upper leaves: petiole 1-2 cm, upper part winged; leaf blade ovate, ovate-elliptic, rarely orbicular, 2-9 x 1-5 cm, abaxially densely adpressed gray pubescent and glandular, adaxially green, sparsely puberulent or glabrous, lateral veins 4- or 5-paired, ascending, base broadly cuneate into petiole, margin crenate-mucronate toothed, repand, or subentire, apex obtuse or rather acute; upper leaves gradually smaller. Synflorescences terminal, panicles broad, often flat-topped. Capitula usually 2 or 3 clustered at tips of branches, 8-10 mm in diameter; peduncle 5-25 mm, densely sericeous-villous; bracteoles absent. Involucre compressed spheroidal, 6-7 x 8-10 mm, base rounded, ± concave; phyllaries 4- or 5-seriate, green or rather purple, with straw-colored margins, lanceolate, 3-4 mm, subleathery, sericeous-villous and glandular, apex subspinelike-acuminate, outermost spreading, median and inner narrowly oblong-lanceolate, ca. 6 mm, spiculate. Receptacle slightly convex, foveolate. Florets 75-100; corolla reddish purple, tubular, 4-5 mm; lobes linear-lanceolate, puberulent and glandular, apex acute. Achenes subcylindric, 1-1.5 mm, 4- or 5-angled, glabrous, glandular. Pappus 1-seriate, white; setae 2-3 mm, scabrid, easily deciduous"  (Flora of China online).

"Erect branching herbs; stems ribbed; leaves mostly ovate-elliptic, cuneate at base, acute or obtuse, apiculate, subentire or obscurely toothed, villous dorsally, up to 10-12 cm long and 4-5 cm wide, on petioles up to 2.5 cm long; heads many, paniculate-corymbose, 40-100-flowered; bracts of involucre lanceolate, puberulent, 4-5-seriate, 6-7 mm long; corollas slightly exserted, violet or rarely paler to white, 4-5 mm long; anthers and style-branches violet; achenes obovoid-oblong, mostly 5-angled, glabrous, glandular, 1-1.5 mm long; pappus hairs 2-3 mm long, 1-seriate, caducous, white" (Stone, 1970; p. 595).

Description from the Digital Flora of Taiwan.

Habitat/ecology:  In China (native), "open places on slopes, fields, and roadsides" (Flora of China online).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Tropical Asia (Stone, 1970; p. 595).

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 invasive	Stone, Benjamin C. (1970) (pp. 594-595)
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1979) (p. 292)
Papua New Guinea Bismarck Archipelago	Bismarck Archipelago	invasive	Peekel, P. G. [translated by E. E. Henty] (1984) (p. 555) A weed of plantations and rubbish heaps.
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (eastern New Guinea Island)	Papua New Guinea (eastern New Guinea Island)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands	native invasive	Merrill, Elmer D. (1923) (p. 594) A common weed in the settled areas at low and medium altitudes.

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Cambodia Cambodia	Cambodia (Kingdom of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
China China	China (People's Republic of)	native	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2011) Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Taiwan, Yunnan
China China	Hong Kong	native	Wu, Te-lin (2001) (p. 289) In wasteland.
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)	native	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2011)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	introduced	Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro (2004) (p. 190)
Malaysia Malaysia	Malaysia (country of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Singapore Singapore	Singapore (Republic of)	uncertain if introduced invasive	Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. (2009) (p. 89) Weed of uncertain origin
Taiwan Taiwan	Taiwan Island	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Taiwan Taiwan	Taiwan Island	native	Ching-I Peng, ed. (2011) "An uncommon weed 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 Vernonia patula is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

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

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

References:

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

Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. 2009. A checklist of the total vascular plant flora of Singapore: native, naturalised and cultivated species. Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore. 273 pp.

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

Merrill, Elmer D. 1923. An enumeration of Philippine flowering plants, vol. 3 [reprint]. Bureau of Printing, Manila. 628 pp.

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.

Peekel, P. G. [translated by E. E. Henty]. 1984. Flora of the Bismarck Archipelago for naturalists. Office of Forests, Division of Botany, Lae, Papua New Guinea. 638 pp. ISBN 9980-66-000-7.

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

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

Wu, Te-lin. 2001. Check List of Hong Kong Plants. Hong Kong Herbarium and the South China Institute of Botany. Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department Bulletin 1 (revised). 384 pp.

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