Tropical Plant Database - Plant Details

Artabotrys hexapetalus is a massive climbing shrub or liana with a thick, spiny, trunk; the bark is smooth and gray. The leaves are narrowly elliptic, dull on both sides, with pointed ends. The flowers are in a coiled inflorescence, with three to four flowering at any time. When fresh the flowers are fragrant, yellow-green, and approximately 1 – 1.5 inches long, with a swollen pedicel base. The fruit grows in clusters of up to 25, and each individual fruit is ovoid and pointed at the tip and ripens yellow. The coiled inflorescence stalk forms a climbing hook that is easy to recognize.

(Staples, George, and Derral R. Herbst. A Tropical Garden Flora: Plants Cultivated in the Hawaiian Islands and Other Tropical Places. Honolulu, Hawai'i: Bishop Museum, 2005.)

Climbing ylang-ylang is a potential weed that may escape and spread from cultivation quickly, so it should be monitored.  Grows in any soil type so long as there is ample water.

(Staples, George, and Derral R. Herbst. A Tropical Garden Flora: Plants Cultivated in the Hawaiian Islands and Other Tropical Places. Honolulu, Hawai'i: Bishop Museum, 2005.)          

Artabotrys hexapetalus is native to southern India and Sri Lanka, found in dry forests. It is now cultivated in Java, southern China, and other tropical countries.  In Hawaii it has become naturalized and weedy in some areas, e.g. on Kauai.

(Staples, George, and Derral R. Herbst. A Tropical Garden Flora: Plants Cultivated in the Hawaiian Islands and Other Tropical Places. Honolulu, Hawai'i: Bishop Museum, 2005.)

Birds and rats eat the fleshy fruit.

We currently have 10 herbarium specimens for Artabotrys hexapetalus in our collection. Click on any specimen below to view the herbarium sheet data.

• 001453 - collected by Lynwood Hume in 1989
• 001454 - collected by Lynwood Hume in 1989
• 006564 - collected by George Staples in 1990
• 015768 - collected by Tim Flynn in 1994
• S063628 - collected by Tim Flynn in 1994
• 056422 - collected by Natalia Tangalin in 2007
• S062915 - collected by Natalia Tangalin in 2007
• 047430 - collected by Mary Merello in 2008
• 076617 - collected by Kelsey Brock in 2016
• 088942 - collected by Kevin Faccenda in 2021