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Pereskia aculeata (Barbados gooseberry)
Life
> eukaryotes >
Archaeoplastida >
Chloroplastida
>
Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants)
> Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants)
> Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering
plants) > Core Eudicots
> Order: Caryophyllales
> Family: Cactaceae > Genus:
Pereskia
Native to tropical America. A serious invasive species in the coastal
forests of KwaZulu-Natal and also naturalised in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Limpopo
and Zimbabwe. It is a
declared
Category 1 invasive plant in South Africa.
Ecological interactions in southern Africa
Herbivores
- Phenrica guerini (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). A leaf
feeding beetle, released in 1991 and 1995 and although
established, has caused only trivial damage to this weed (Klein
2011).
Links
Publications
-
Klein H. 2011. A
catalogue of the insects, mites and
pathogens that have been used or
rejected, or are under consideration,
for the biological control of invasive
alien plants in South Africa. African
Entomology 19(2): 515-549.
Text by Hamish Robertson
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