Bischofia javanica
Common Name(s): Bishopwood
Non-Native to Florida
Origin: Tropical Asia, Pacific Islands1
This species appears on the following legally prohibited plant lists
UF-IFAS Assessment of Non-Native Plants in Florida’s Natural Areas
CATEGORY I on the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council’s (FLEPPC) 2017 List of Invasive Plant Species
Download a recognition card (PDF) from Invasive and Non-native Plants You Should Know2
Download a page (PDF) from Identification and Biology of Nonnative Plants in Florida’s Natural Areas – Second Edition1
Control information: Integrated Management of Nonnative Plants in Natural Areas of Florida (EDIS publication SP 242)3
Bishopwood is occasionally found in disturbed hammocks from central Florida and the south peninsula. It is native to southern Asia but escaped cultivation. Bischofia javanica blooms from the spring to summer (Wunderlin, 2003).
Appearance: Evergreen tree commonly 12–18 m (35–60 ft) in height with dense, rounded head, smooth branches, and milky sap.
Leaves: Alternate, long-petioled, trifoliolate (3 leaflets); leaflets shiny, bronze-toned, oval-elliptic, 15–20 cm (6–8 in) long, with margins small toothed.
Flowers: Tiny, without petals, greenish-yellow, in many flowered clusters (racemes) at leaf axils; male and female flowers on separate plants (dioecious).
Fruit: Pea-sized, berry-like, fleshy, to 9 mm (0.35 in) in diameter; brown or reddish or blue-black, 3-celled.
Ecological threat: Common in old fields and disturbed wetland sites; invading intact cypress domes and tropical hardwood hammocks, where it displaces native vegetation and alters the structure of the plant community. FLEPPC Category I
Distribution: C, SW, SE
Text from Invasive and Non-Native Plants You Should Know, Recognition Cards, by A. Richard and V. Ramey, 2007. UF/IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, Publ. No. SP 431.
View the herbarium specimen image from the University of Florida Herbarium Digital Imaging Projects.
Citations
1. Identification and Biology of Nonnative Plants in Florida’s Natural Areas – Second Edition,
by K.A. Langeland, H.M. Cherry, et al. University of Florida-IFAS Publication # SP 257. 2008.
2. Invasive and Non-native Plants You Should Know – Recognition Cards,
by A. Richard and V. Ramey. University of Florida-IFAS Publication # SP 431. 2007.
3. Integrated Management of Nonnative Plants in Natural Areas of Florida, by K. A. Langeland, J. A. Ferrell, B. Sellers, G. E. MacDonald, and R. K. Stocker. University of Florida-IFAS Publication # SP 242. 2011.