Hen’s Eyes, Coral Ardisia (Ardisia crenata)

Taxonomy

Domain	Eukarya
Kingdom	Plantae
Phylum	Magnoliophyta
Class	Magnoliopsida
Superorder	Asteranae
Order	Ericales
Family	Primulaceae
Genus	Ardisia

Scientific Name

Ardisia crenata

Common Name

coral ardisia

Miller, J.H., E.B, Chambliss, N.J. Loewenstein. 2010. A Field Guide for the Identification of Invasive Plants in Southern Forests. General Technical Report SRS-119. Asheville, NC. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 126 p.

Plant

Evergreen, erect shrub, 2 to 6 feet (0.6 to 1.8 m) in height with short stems or multi-stemmed bushy clumps. Shiny green leaves with distinct thickened, wavy margins, drooping white to pink axillary flowers, and dangling, bright red berries in fall and through winter. No rhizomes.

Stem

Twigs light green and shiny, projecting alternately outward from light brown, erect stems, becoming increasingly rough, with grayish bark. Leaf and stem scars broadly V-shaped with a raised bud at top.

Leaves

Alternate, 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 cm) long, elliptic to narrowly lanceolate or oblanceolate with a pointed tip, leathery with scalloped crenate margins (thus the scientific name, crenata) and raised callused notches. Shiny and dark green above with a paler midvein and pale green beneath, tapering to a short winged petiole.

Flowers

April to October. Axillary clusters dangling below the leaves, with green to red stems, conical buds mixed with flowers having 4 to 5 white to pink petals, yellow centers and eventually an extending style.

Fruit and seeds

November to March. Abundant, spherical 1-seeded drupes, 0.2 to 0.3 inch (6 to 8 mm) wide, hanging down in fanned clusters often jutting outward on lower branch ends, green then ripening through shades of coral to finally bright scarlet.

Ecology

Forms infestations in partial shade or full shade and grows best in moist, well-drained soils. Forms dense infestations to shade out ground flora. Spreads by animal-dispersed seed and produces fruit within 2 years.

Resembles

Resembles only the related shoebutton (A. elliptica Thunb.), which does not have wavy margins and has fruit ripening to black, and only invasive in FL wetlands at present.

History and use

Native to Japan and Northern India and introduced into FL in 1900 as an ornamental. Still being sold and planted in the Southeast, and worldwide by internet sales.

Distribution

Found as dense infestations throughout LA and FL and recently found in south GA.

Management strategies

Do not plant. Remove prior plantings, and control sprouts and seedlings. Bag and dispose of fruit in a dumpster or burn.
Treat when new plants are young to prevent seed formation.
Cut, mulch, or bulldoze when fruit are not present.
Minimize disturbance within miles of where this plant occurs, and anticipate wider occupation when plants are present before disturbance.
Manually pull new seedlings and tree wrench saplings when soil is moist, ensuring removal of all roots.
Burning treatments are suspected of having minimal effect due to scant litter.

Recommended control procedures

In fall, apply a basal spray of Garlon 4 as a 20-percent solution (5 pints per 3-gallon mix) in a labeled basal oil product, vegetable oil or mineral oil with a penetrant, or fuel oil or diesel fuel (where permitted).
For stems too tall for foliar sprays, cut large stems and immediately treat the stump tops with Garlon 4 as a 20- to 25-percent solution (5 to 6 pints per 3-gallon mix). ORTHO Brush-B-Gon, Enforcer Brush Killer, and Vine-X are effective undiluted for treating cut-stumps and available in retail garden stores (safe to surrounding plants).
Thoroughly wet all leaves with one of the following herbicides in water with a surfactant: a glyphosate herbicide or Garlon 4 as a 5-percent solution (20 ounces per 3-gallon mix).

Images

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