Invasiveness Assessment - Thorn apple (Datura spp.) 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 Thorn apple.
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 - 1026 KB)
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Common Name: Thorn apple
Scientific name: Datura spp.
| Question | Comments | Reference | Rating |
| Establishment | |||
| Germination requirements? | See D. stramonium. |  | H |
| Establishment requirements? | Can establish under moderate canopy – occurs in “wooded” habitats and canopy microclimates. | Ballare et al (1988) Ratera (1981) | MH |
| How much disturbance is required? | Establishes in vigorously growing crops, e.g. summer crops, early winter crops. | Monaghan & Felton (1979) Everist (1981) | MH |
| Growth/Competitive | |||
| Life form? | See D. stramonium. | | L |
| Allelopathic properties? | None described. | | L |
| Tolerates herb pressure? | See D. stramonium. | | MH |
| Normal growth rate? | See D. stramonium. | Also see Gonzalez et al (1991) | MH |
| Stress tolerance to frost, drought, w/logg, sal. etc? | Tolerant of water logging (occurs in riverbeds and banks), drought (occurs in Central Australia, California). | Henderson (1995) P & C (1992) | ML |
| Reproduction | |||
| Reproductive system | Reproducing by seed. | P & C (1992) | ML |
| Number of propagules produced? | Assumed similar to D. stramonium, as has similar fruit and habit. | P & C (1992) | H |
| Propagule longevity? | See D. stramonium. | | H |
| Reproductive period? | See D. stramonium. | | H |
| Time to reproductive maturity? | See D. stramonium. | | H |
| Dispersal | |||
| Number of mechanisms? | See D. stramonium. | | MH |
| How far do they disperse? | See D. stramonium. | | MH |
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This page was last updated on 18/08/2020.