HAIRY CLIDEMIA (Clidemia hirta)
Hairy Clidemia, commonly called soapbush or Koster's Curse, is a perennial shrub. It is an invasive plant species in many tropical regions of the world, creating serious damage. Originally from South America, it has since been introduced to Australia, Southern Asia and East Africa. The shrub is usually less than 2 m high. The most distinct characteristic is the leaves that are covered with soft and reddish hair. The leaves are elliptical or oval in shape and have 5 ribs rising from the top of the leafstalk. The flowers are white in color. The fruits are small, oval shaped and turn purple and pulpy when ripe. Each fruit can contains more than 100 tiny seeds. It flowers and fruits all year, if conditions are moist enough. A large plant can produce more than 500 fruits in a single year. The seeds are dispersed by birds, feral pigs, other animals, and humans. Sheep will not eat the plant, and the tannin inside the fruits is poisonous to goats. The edible fruit taste a bit like a deeply flavored blueberry. The tannin inside of the fruit is not harmful to humans and a delicious syrup may be made from the fruit. The syrup has a beautiful indigo blue color and may be used to enhance and remove the bitterness of teas such as yerba mate.
In Malaysia 'kampong' (village), the Malays call it Sendudok (same as the Malay name given to the Singapore Rhododendron.) The crushed leaves mixed with saliva can be applied as a poultice onto a wound to staunch the bleeding.
Do you know … "Koster's curse" is a commonly used name in places where the plant grows as a noxious weed, such as in Hawaii. Koster was the man who between 1880 and 1886 accidentally introduced seeds of the hairy clidemia to Fiji in coffee nursery stock, where its problematic nature was first noticed around 1920. Originally only known as "the curse" for the damage it did to coconut plantations, its vernacular name became a model after which those of other invasive plants were patterned, such as Ellington's Curse on Fiji, McConnel's curse in Australia, Curse of India in East Africa or Burbank's Folly in the Pacific Northwest
In Malaysia 'kampong' (village), the Malays call it Sendudok (same as the Malay name given to the Singapore Rhododendron.) The crushed leaves mixed with saliva can be applied as a poultice onto a wound to staunch the bleeding.
Do you know … "Koster's curse" is a commonly used name in places where the plant grows as a noxious weed, such as in Hawaii. Koster was the man who between 1880 and 1886 accidentally introduced seeds of the hairy clidemia to Fiji in coffee nursery stock, where its problematic nature was first noticed around 1920. Originally only known as "the curse" for the damage it did to coconut plantations, its vernacular name became a model after which those of other invasive plants were patterned, such as Ellington's Curse on Fiji, McConnel's curse in Australia, Curse of India in East Africa or Burbank's Folly in the Pacific Northwest