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its first fruiting season. This heavy seed production and potential for long-distance dispersal help make miconia an invasive threat. The seeds can lie dormant in the soil of the forest for more than 12 years, and whenever a break in the canopy allows sun to shine through to a patch of soil the seeds there undergo germination. Once the plants grow to full height, their enormous leaves shade out all the space below them, preventing any other plant from growing nearby. It also has a shallow root system that facilitates
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332:. The velvet tree has been known to replace the native understory of Hawaiian mountainous forests. The plant itself has a shallow root system as compared to the native species. This shallower root systems are unable to bind the soil together which has led to landslides in certain regions of Hawaii.
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of white to light pink blossoms. The tiny purple fruits are about half a centimeter in diameter and packed with about 120–230 minuscule seeds. The sweet fruits are attractive to birds and other animals which disperse the seeds. A young tree with only two flower panicles can produce 200,000 seeds in
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Hawaiian populations of miconia were first discovered in the 1990s, and since the plant's invasive potential was already well-known, control and eradication efforts began immediately. Uprooting and herbicides are used to remove plants, but
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The tree can grow to a height of 15 metres (49 ft) and has very large leaves, each up to 1 metre (3.3 ft) in length. Its purple and green leaves with flashy white veining made it attractive as an
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The tree has become an invasive species in Tahiti and a quarter of the rainforest on the island is now made up of miconia stands. For this reason, it is frequently called the "green
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Botanic
Gardens Conservation International (BGCI); IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group; de Santiago, J.; Meave, J.A.; Ibarra-Manríquez, G.; Cornejo-Tenorio, G. (2019).
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has not yet met with great success. Teams of volunteers often lead expeditions into the forest to remove miconia plants by hand.
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In Sri Lanka it invades upcountry mountain forest areas. It forms monospecific stands that shade out native vegetation.
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The seeds are dispersed from gardens into natural forest habitats by fruit-eating birds. Once dispersed into
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list the tree as one of the world's 100 most invasive species in the Global
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Miconia trees can flower several times a year and bear fruit simultaneously. The
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557:: a gallery of copyright-free high-resolution photographs
19:"Bush Currant" redirects here. Not to be confused with
313:it takes hold vigorously, invading any spot in the
392:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-2.RLTS.T49278524A136781990.en
324:It is known for being the worst invasive plant in
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266:and it has become one of the world's most
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467:. Global Invasive Species Database
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53:Conservation status
1021:Trees of Guatemala
704:Miconia calvescens
639:Miconia_calvescens
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254:. It is native to
246:, is a species of
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214:Miconia calvescens
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606:Wikispecies
398:30 December
236:velvet tree
126:Angiosperms
975:Categories
901:Plant List
437:2009-02-07
354:References
330:ecosystems
315:understory
292:ornamental
277:are large
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591:Wikidata
471:3 August
279:panicles
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162:Myrtales
139:Eudicots
73:IUCN 3.1
986:Miconia
717:3188585
597:Q140905
260:Central
240:miconia
183:Miconia
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345:cancer
326:Hawaii
256:Mexico
234:, the
152:Rosids
805:33990
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756:48888
699:FoAO2
678:MICCA
665:42MV8
242:, or
146:Clade
133:Clade
120:Clade
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852:NCBI
826:IUCN
813:ITIS
774:IPNI
766:6021
738:GRIN
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712:GBIF
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647:BOLD
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492:ISBN
473:2012
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302:The
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