Plectranthus ecklonii
Environmental Weed (2024)
Common names
Plectranthus
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Flower colours
Blue, Violet/Purple
Detailed description
An erect shrub, usually 1.5-2m high, young stems densely covered with fine hairs. Similar hairs also on leaves, especially along upper side of veins. Flowers blue-violet, borne in a loose, erect panicle about 30cm high at the top of the stems.(DOC 1998)
Habitat
Terrestrial.
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Lamiaceae
Ecology
Flowering
December, January, February, March, April, May
Year naturalised
1978
Origin
E and S Africa
Reason for introduction
Ornamental
Life cycle
Perennial. Mainly spreads vegetatively (Owen 1997).
Other information
Etymology
plectranthus: From the Greek plektron (spur) and anthos (flower), referring to the spurred flowers
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.
NVS code
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.
PLEECK