Invasiveness Assessment - Red cestrum (Cestrum elegans) in Victoria
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Plant invasiveness is determined by evaluating a plant’s biological and ecological characteristics against criteria that encompass establishment requirements, growth rate and competitive ability, methods of reproduction, and dispersal mechanisms.
| Each characteristic, or criterion, is assessed against a list of intensity ratings. Depending upon information found, a rating of Low, Medium Low, Medium High or High is assigned to that criterion. Where no data is available to answer a criterion, a rating of medium (M) is applied. A description of the invasiveness criteria and intensity ratings used in this process can be viewed here. |
The following table provides information on the invasiveness of Red cestrum.
A more detailed description of the methodology of the Victorian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) method can be viewed below:
Victorian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) method (PDF - 630 KB)
Victorian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) method (DOC - 1 MB)
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Common Name: Red cestrum
Scientific name: Cestrum elegans
| Question | Comments | Rating | Confidence |
| Establishment | |||
| Germination requirements? | Requires natural seasonal disturbances, such as seasonal rainfall, spring/summer temperatures for germination. | MH | L |
| Establishment requirements? | This plant likes well-drained and fertile soils (coolexotics website) sun and semi shade and regular water (calfloranursery website). Plant is able to establish under a moderate canopy. | MH | MH |
| How much disturbance is required? | Invades damp scherophyll forests and riparian vegetation (Carr et al, 1992). It can invade disturbed riparian environments and cool moist forests in Victoria and NSW (Muyt, 2001) and also invade undisturbed bush (Stewart-Howie, 2003). The plant has the ability to colonise in both relatively intact and minimally disturbed ecosystems. | MH | MH |
| Growth/Competitive | |||
| Life form? | Family: Solanaceae Perennial (Dave’s Garden website) Shrubs to 2.4 – 3 m (Muyt, 2001, Dave’s Garden website) 5-8 ft (O’Hara.) Night-flowering (sunnygardens website) Life form is that of a shrub. | L | MH |
| Allelopathic properties? | None mentioned in literature reviewed. | L | L |
| Tolerates herb pressure? | None mentioned in literature reviewed. | M | L |
| Normal growth rate? | Fast growth, tough and vigorous (Dave’s Garden website). Form dense thickets that exclude all other vegetation (Muyt, 2001). Rapid growth rate that will exceed most other species of the same life form. | H | MH |
| Stress tolerance to frost, drought, w/logg, sal. etc? | Fairly drought tolerant, not over watering or waterlogging (Dave’s Garden website). Plants damaged by heavy frosts usually ‘come back’ quickly (sunnygardens website). Susceptible to at least two stresses. | L | L |
| Reproduction | |||
| Reproductive system | Vigorous suckering (Muyt, 2001). Sexual. | H | MH |
| Number of propagules produced? | Not mentioned in literature reviewed, nor the number of flowers in inflorescences. Number of propagules estimated at 500 – 1,500 per annum. | M | L |
| Propagule longevity? | Seeds can remain viable for at least eight years (Muyt, 2001). Greater than 25% of seeds survive 5 - 10 years in the soil. | ML | MH |
| Reproductive period? | Not mentioned in literature reviewed however it has been noted that the plant out competes all native ground cover plants in this environment and threatens to form a total monoculture (Stewart-Howie, 2003). Mature plant produces viable propagules for 3 – 10 years. | MH | L |
| Time to reproductive maturity? | Flowered six weeks after planting (Dave’s Garden website). Reaches maturity and produces viable propagules in under a year. | H | ML |
| Dispersal | |||
| Number of mechanisms? | Produces red berries (Richardson, et al. 2006) to attract mobile berry eaters. Flowers attract hummingbirds (sunnygardens website; calfloranursery website). Edible fruit that is readily eaten by highly mobile animals. | H | MH |
| How far do they disperse? | Not mentioned in literature reviewed. | M | L |
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