Present on Pacific Islands?  no

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: liao ge wang

English: tie bush

Tahitian: akia, mou‘a, oa‘ao, o‘ovao, o‘ovau, ovau-ao

Habit:  shrub

Description:  "Small twiggy shrub, c. 0.3-1.25 m tall. Branchlets and twigs slender, terete, with scattered fine hairs when very young but soon quite glabrous, striate, blackish-purple. Leaves oblanceolate to elliptic or oblong, 1.5-6 x 0.6-2 (-2.6) cm, subcoriaceous, shining on the upper surface but duller below, glabrous or almost so, cuneate to attenuate at the base, obtuse (sometimes more or less emarginate) or acute at the apex; petiole 1-2 mm, glabrous. Flowers yellow or green, in dense axillary or terminal few-flowered spikes, subsessile or shortly (to c. 3 mm) pedunculate; pedicels c. 2 mm, articulated below the middle. Calyx tube 5-9 mm, sparsely pilose on the outer surface, glabrous within; lobes 2-3 mm, oblong to ovate, obtuse, sparsely pilose dorsally, glabrous within. Anthers oblong, c. 0.75-1 mm. Ovary ellipsoid-oblong, c. 2 mm, glabrous or sparsely pilose about the style base; hypogynal scales 2, linear, acute or usually truncate or incised at the apex; style very short (less than 0.5 mm), stigma large and solitary. Fruit broadly ellipsoid to subglobose, 4-6 mm, naked, fleshy, red or green, glabrous. Seed globose-pyriform, 3.75-5.75 mm, with a short apical point, black" (Dassanayake, 1981; pp. 503-504).

Habitat/ecology:  In Sri Lanka, "an introduced species now abundantly established on sandy roadside banks, grassland, forest margins" (Dassanayake, 1981; pp. 503-504).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  "India to China, throughout Malaysia and the Malay Islands to Australia" (Dassanayake, 1981; pp. 503-504).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre		National Tropical Botanical Garden (U.S.A. Hawaii. Kalaheo.) (1983) (voucher ID: PTBG 11833) Taxon name on voucher: Wikstroemia indica (L.) C. Meyer
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		Merrill, Elmer D. (1923) (p. 132) In thickets, second-growth forests, etc.

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	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Australia Australia (continental)	Northern Territory	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Australia Australia (continental)	Queensland	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
China China	China (People's Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
China China	Hong Kong	native	Wu, Te-lin (2001) (pp. 160-161) In thickets on hillslopes.
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Malaysia Malaysia	Malaysia (country of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Singapore Singapore	Singapore (Republic of)	introduced cultivated	Chong, Kwek Yan/Tan, Hugh T. W./Corlett, Richard T. (2009) (p. 90) Cultivated only
Taiwan Taiwan	Taiwan Island	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
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)

Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Mauritius Mautitius Islands (Mauritius and Rodrigues)	Mauritius Island	introduced invasive	Lorence, D./Sussman, R. W. (1986) (pp. 147-162)
Mauritius Mautitius Islands (Mauritius and Rodrigues)	Mauritius Island		National Tropical Botanical Garden (U.S.A. Hawaii. Kalaheo.) (1994) (voucher ID: PTBG 16646) Taxon name on voucher: Wikstroemia indica (L.) C. A. Meyer
Mauritius Mautitius Islands (Mauritius and Rodrigues)	Rodrigues Island	introduced invasive	Kell, S. (1997) (pp. 13-14)

Additional information:
An overview of invasive woody plants in the tropics.

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

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

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

References:

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.

Dassanayake, M. D., gen. ed. 1981. A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon. Vol II. Amerind Pub. Co., New Delhi. 511 pp.

Kell, S. 1997. Alien plant invasions on Rodrigues Island (Indian Ocean). Aliens 5:13-14.

Lorence, D./Sussman, R. W. 1986. Exotic species invasion into Mauritius wet forest remnants. Journal of Tropical Ecology 2: 147-162.

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

National Tropical Botanical Garden (U.S.A. Hawaii. Kalaheo.). 1983. Voucher specimen #PTBG11833(Gordon McPherson 5566).

Rejmánek, M. 1996. Species richness and resistance to invasions. In: Orians, G., R. Dirzo and J. H. Cushman (eds.). Biodiversity and ecosystem processes in tropical forests. Springer-Verlag. pp. 153-172.

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

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.

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).