Weeds of Australia - Fact Sheet

Top Scientific Name Family Common Names Origin Naturalised Distribution Notes

Scientific Name

Quisqualis indica L.

Family

Combretaceae

Common Names

Chinese honeysuckle, drunken sailor, quisqualis, Rangoon creeper, red jasmine

Origin

Native to tropical Africa (i.e. Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo, Tanzania, Zaire and Angola), the Indian Sub-continent (i.e. India, Nepal and Sri Lanka), China, Taiwan and south-eastern Asia (i.e. Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines).

It is also thought to be native to some parts of northern Australia (i.e. it is regarded as being native to the coastal districts of northern Western Australia).

Naturalised Distribution

This species is occasionally naturalised in northern Queensland and the northern parts of the Northern Territory. It is possibly also naturalised in south-eastern Queensland.

Naturalised overseas in New Caledonia, south-eastern USA (i.e. Florida) and the Caribbean (e.g. Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands).

Notes

Rangoon creeper (Quisqualis indica) is regarded as an emerging environmental weed in northern Queensland and the northern parts of the Northern Territory and is a potential environmental weed or "sleeper weed" in other warmer and wetter parts of the country.

This garden ornamental is persisting and becoming weedy around old settlements in the northern parts of the Northern Territory. For example, Rangoon creeper (Quisqualis indica) is regarded as a medium priority weed species in aboriginal lands in the Northern Land Council area and has been recorded in Holmes Jungle Nature Park.

Rangoon creeper (Quisqualis indica) has also been identified as a potential pest species in local government Pest Management Plans for the Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland. It is possibly also becoming naturalised along creeks in Brisbane in south-eastern Queensland.