Family: Heliotropiaceae
Euploca procumbens, (fourspike heliotrope or slender heliotrope), is a low growing, trailing or prostrate herb that is native to North and South America. It is often found in open, disturbed areas, such as fields, roadsides, and waste areas. It was likely introduced and moved around the Hawaiian Islands in military flights and construction materials and is now naturalized in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as well as the islands of Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Maui, and Hawaii. It is considered weedy and may be able to compete with low-growing native vegetation but has not been targeted as a management problem to date.
High Risk Traits:
- Thrives and spreads in low elevation tropical climates
- Naturalized on Kauai, Oahu, Molokai. Maui and Hawaii (Hawaiian Islands), the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and widely naturalized in the wet tropics and elsewhere.
- A disturbance-adapted weed of low elevation sites.
- Cited as an agricultural weed, but impacts have not been quantified.
- Other Heliotropium species are invasive weeds (previously classified as Heliotropium procumbens)
- Reproduces by seeds
- Self-pollinated
- An annual or perennial, able to reach maturity in one growing season.
- Seeds dispersed by water, internally by animals, externally by ants and possibly other animals, and as a contaminant of vehicles and construction materials.
Low Risk Traits:
- Despite weedy traits, has not been targeted as a management priority where naturalized
- Unarmed (no spines, thorns, or burrs)
- Palatable to goats and probably other livestock
- Non-toxic
- Grows best in high light environments (dense shade may inhibit spread)
- Herbicides provide effective control of weedy species in the related genus Heliotropium and may be effective if needed to control Euploca procumbens.
