Skip to main content
FNAI logo, butterfly on a palm frond.

Heptapleurum actinophyllum

Common Name: schefflera

Family: Araliaceae

Common Synonyms: Brassaia actinophylla, Schefflera actinophylla

USDA Hardiness Zone: 9b-11

Growth Habit: Tree

Origin: Tropical Asia, Australasia

FISC Category: 1

FDACS Listed Noxious Weed: No

Introduction Date: Earliest Florida specimen available vouchered in 1927

IFAS Assessment:

  • North: OK
  • Central: INVASIVE
  • South: INVASIVE
Heptapleurum actinophyllum
Amy Jenkins, at Hickey Creek WEA
Heptapleurum actinophyllum
Amy Jenkins, at Hickey Creek WEA

Description

This species forms a large shrub or tree with large, evergreen, entire, palmately compound leaves. It can reach 12-15 m in height and grows rapidly. It can reach 12-15 m in height and grows rapidly.

Habitat

Disturbed sites, often epiphytic when young. Central and southern peninsula

Comments

Grows terrestrially or as an epiphyte, invasive in hammocks, particularly wet, rocky sites, bird-dispersed fruits. Escaped from cultivation.

Map of species distribution

Control Methods

  • Manual: Chemical: Cut and treat stumps.
  • Chemical: Large individuals (>10 inches dbh) have proven extremely difficult to eradicate. A cut-stump treatment with 50% Triclopyr ester 61.6% L 3A or 10% Triclopyr ester 61.6% L is recommended. If a cut-stump treatment is not possible, application of a wide band of 10% Triclopyr ester 61.6% L may be used on smaller individuals and 20% Triclopyr ester 61.6% L may be used on larger individuals. It may take up to 9 months to kill large trees (IFAS).
  • Biological: NA

Control Notes

NA

References

IFAS. 2011. Integrated Management of Nonnative Plants in Natural Areas of Florida. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/WG/WG20900.pdf Accessed June 13 2017.

Wunderlin, Richard P., and Bruce F. Hansen. Guide to the Vascular Plants of Florida. 3rd ed. Gainesville, FL: U of Florida, 2011.

Print Friendly Version