Alert List for Environmental Weeds
Department of the Environment and Heritage and the CRC for Australian Weed Management, 2003
ISBN 1 9209 3220 8
About the guide
Asystasia gangetica subspecies (ssp.) micrantha is on the Alert List for Environmental Weeds, a list of 28 non-native plants that threaten biodiversity and cause other environmental damage. Although only in the early stages of establishment, these weeds have the potential to seriously degrade Australia's ecosystems.
A. gangetica ssp. micrantha is a form of Chinese violet. As an environmental weed, it smothers other ground plants and displaces vegetation, which reduces the availability of habitat for native plants and animals and therefore reduces biodiversity.
It is a major weed overseas, particularly in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Pacific islands. In these places it infests plantations, particularly oil-palm crops, and competes effectively for soil nutrients, reducing productivity and increasing crop management costs. It could also become an agricultural weed in Australia.
Another closely related species, Asystasia gangetica ssp. gangetica, has also become naturalised in the Northern Territory and Queensland.