Piper
aduncum was
introduced in the Botanical gardens of Bogor (Indonesia) in 1860. By the
1920s, it commonly occurred in a radius of 50 to 100 km around the Botanical
Gardens in young secondary vegetation, close to rivers and on very steep slopes,
locally in dense stands. Piper aduncum was noted in Jayapura in 1955 and
in Biak in 1960 on Papua (Irian Jaya) and in Malaysia and Borneo in the 1960s.
It has also been recorded in Singapore and Sumatra, and is on the list of
unwanted weed species by the quarantine service of Australia. Piper aduncum
was introduced into Fiji in the 1920s and is now widespread in the wet and
intermediate zones of Viti Levu. It is also found on Hawaii, Vanuatu, Christmas
Island and the Solomons Islands.
Thumbnails: The botanist Mary Clemens was the first to
describe Piper aduncum in Papa New Guinea: 1935 - see label below.
Thanks to Dr Robin Hide of ANU Canberra for her pictures.
Label from first Papua New Guinea specimen at the National Herbarium Leiden (Netherlands)
It was not very widespread in the early 1970s and Piper aduncum is not separately listed in the standard text on New Guinea vegetation by Paijmans. By the late 1990s Piper aduncum is very common in the lowlands of the Morobe and Madang Provinces, and is also observed in the Central Highlands above 2,000 m a.s.l. Seeds are being spread by flying foxes and logging equipment. Causes for its rapid spreading remain unclear but evidence is being accumulated that areas of high native plant species richness and cover, like many areas in Papua New Guinea, and areas high in soil fertility may be highly invasible.
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Thumbnails (left to right): In Papua new Guinea Piper aduncum is common in
secondary fallow vegetation; along road cuts; in the highlands near Mt Hagen;
it can nowadays also been seen invading imperata grasslands (Markham valley)
Presence of Piper aduncum in Papua New Guinea. Based on observations and publications by: B.J. Allen, R.M. Bourke, M. Clemens, R.O. Gardner, A.E. Hartemink, R. Hide, S.B. Kidd, C. Kocher Schmid, J. Leps, A.L. Mack, O. Ngere, V. Novotny, P. Vovola, J. Sterly, W. Takeuchi, B. Waterhouse, M. Woruba