Click on any heading above to view more information about this plant
Conservation Status
IUCN: not evaluated
USFWS: None
Family: ASTERACEAE Genus: Sphagneticola Species: trilobata Species Author: (L.) Pruski
Sphagneticola trilobata is a creeping, mat-forming perennial herb with rounded stems that root at the nodes. The leaves are fleshy, ovate and irregularly toothed, about 4-9 cm long, (1.5-) 2-5 cm wide, usually with a pair of lateral lobes. Blooms profusely with 1" yellow-orange daisy-like flowers, borne singly on the end of each stem.
(Wagner, W.L., D.R. Herbst and S.H. Sohmer. 1999. Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai'i.)
Sphagneticola trilobata is a beautiful ground cover in warm climates, especially good for soil retention and erosion control. This herb is very attractive because of its almost constant and prolific blooming. It grows well under trees and in poor soil, as well as a hanging basket species.
(Information for this species compiled and recorded by Camelia Cirnaru, NTBG Consultant.)
This creeping herb is native to the tropics of Central America and West Indies.
(Wagner, W.L., D.R. Herbst and S.H. Sohmer. 1999. Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai'i.)
Sphagneticola trilobata has become naturalized in many wet tropical areas of the world. It forms a dense ground cover, crowding out and/or preventing regeneration of other species.
If Sphagneticola trilobata becomes established in plantations, it will compete with crops for nutrients, light and water and reduce crop yields. It rapidly escapes from gardens to roadsides and plantations, where it can overgrow plants and develop into a thick ground cover.
(Niue Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. 2001.)
(PIER. 2003.)
We currently have 26 herbarium specimens for Sphagneticola trilobata in our collection. Click on any specimen below to view the herbarium sheet data.
