Species

Ageratina adenophora

Etymology

adenophora: From the Greek aden ' gland' and phoreo 'to bear'

Common Name(s)

Mexican devil

Family

Asteraceae

Flora Category

Vascular - Exotic

NVS Species Code

AGEADE

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

Structural Class

Dicotyledonous Herbs - Composites

Synonyms

Eupatorium adenophorum, Eupatorium glandulosum

Habitat

Terrestrial. Lightly shaded frost-free areas, e.g. forest edges, shrublands, wetlands, streamsides, open forest, inshore and offshore islands, gumlands, slips, alluvial flats, coast and estuaries.

Features

Erect, many-stemmed herb to subshrub to 1-2 m. Perennial fibrous rootstock. Stems often die back in winter, densely covered in stalked sticky hairs, usually purple, becoming woody, with branches in opposite pairs, often with galls formed by parasitic fly. Leaves in opposite pairs, 55-80 x 35-70 mm, diamond-shaped, margins irregularly roundtoothed. Flowers small, white, 5-7 mm diam, in dense terminal clusters, Aug-Dec. Seeds black, 5- angled, 1.8 mm long.

Similar Taxa

Can be distinguished from mist flower ( A. riparia) by the broader leaf shape and stalked glandular hairs without stripes (DoC, 1998).

Flowering

August, September, October, November, December, January, February, March.

Flower Colours

White

Fruiting

Late Summer-Autumn? (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995).

Year Naturalised

1931

Origin

Mexico

Reason For Introduction

Ornamental.

Life Cycle Comments

Perennial. The plant has a life span of a few years  and produces seed (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995) drooping stems can layer. Seed dispersal is by wind, water, vertebrates and road mowers.

Tolerances

The plant is intolerant to shade, frost and poor drainage(?) and tolerant to drought (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995).

This page last updated on 9 Aug 2013