Download Which Thunbergia have I got?

Weed Spotters Network Queensland
Which Thunbergia have I got?
Weed Identification Sheet
INSTRUCTIONS:TO USE THE KEY
Read the statements 1 and 1x which offer two alternatives.
Choose the statement which is most appropriate to the specimen that you wish to identify.
Read the two statements directly below the chosen statement, e.g. 2 and 2x.
After choosing one, follow the instructions in the key to the next statement.
* = naturalised species. All Thunbergia species are non-native.
1. Annual herb up to 35 cm high; leaves sessile; flowers white .................
.........................................................Thunbergia annua Prohibited weed
Not yet recorded in Australia
1x. Climbing vine; leaves with petioles ..............................................go to 2
Thunbergia annua is a weak herb, branching from the root; stems with long
white hairs when young. Leaves are sessile, oblong-lanceolate, obtuse or
rounded tip, tapering to an acute base, 5–10 cm long, 1–2 cm wide, with
scattered hairs along the veins of the lower surface. Flowers are white, about
2 cm long, on short peduncles; bracteoles ovate, strongly keeled and pilose
along the keel, 5–7-nerved. Capsules are thin walled, pubescent, the fertile
part globose, the beak arising from it very abruptly; seeds smooth. Native to
Central Sudan and Upper Nile.
Thunbergia annua, Photo: S. Navie
Thunbergia alata, Photo: S. Navie
2. Petiole winged, flowers orange or yellow (rarely white) often with
black throat......................................*Thunbergia alata, black-eyed Susan
2x. Petiole not winged.......................................................................go to 3
Prepared by K. Stephens + M. Laidlaw
2016
Thunbergia alata, Photo: S. Navie
For Weed Spotters Network enquiries contact the Queensland Herbarium on (07) 3896 9323
Or visit http://www.qld.gov.au/environment/plants-animals/plants/herbarium/weeds
This fact sheet has been developed for the Weed Spotters Network Queensland, a joint initiative of the Department
of Science, Information Technology and Innovation and the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.
Queensland
Government
3. Flowers white or blue...................................................................go to 4
3x. Flowers yellow and red ..................................Thunbergia mysorensis
(a cultivated garden plant, doubtfully naturalised)
4. Flowers single or paired in leaf axils, white
.........................................................*Thunbergia fragrans, not declared
Thunbergia mysorensis, Photo: K. Stephens
There is also a species considered native in North Qld, T. arnhemica
which is very similar to this species, and may prove to be the same
species when a taxonomic revision of the group is undertaken.
T. arnhemica does not occur in SEQ.
4x. Flowers in terminal racemes, blue or white,
leaves variable ...............................*Thunbergia grandiflora. Restricted
(Category 3) weed
Thunbergia grandiflora, Photo: S. Navie
Thunbergia grandiflora, Photo: S. Navie
Thunbergia fragrans, Photo:S. Navie
Thunbergia grandiflora, Photo: K. Stephens
Annual Thunbergia, Thunbergia annua, is a prohibited invasive plant under the Biosecurity Act 2014.
www.business.qld.gov.au/industry/agriculture/species/declared-pests/weeds/annual-thunbergia. All sightings of
annual Thunbergia must be reported to Biosecurity Queensland (13 25 23) within 24 hours of the sighting. It must not
be kept, moved, given away, sold or released into the environment without a permit.
Blue Thunbergia, Thunbergia grandiflora, is a restricted (category 3) invasive plant under the Biosecurity Act 2014.
http://www.business.qld.gov.au/industry/agriculture/species/declared-pests/weeds/blue-thunbergia. Restricted
(category 3) invasive plants must not be given away, sold, or released into the environment without a permit.
For more information:
ANDREWS, F.W. (1956). The Flowering Plants of the Sudan 3: 189. Sudan Government, T. Buncle & Co Ltd: Arbroath, Scotland.
BARKER, R.M. (1986). A taxonomic revision of Australian Acanthaceae. Journal Adelaide Botanic Gardens 9: 1–286.