Global Compendium of Weeds

The Global Compendium of Weeds is a list of plant species (over 28,000 names) that have been cited in specific references (approximately 1,000) as weeds. An expert has assessed the status of the weed based on its context in each document. Sometimes, additional information--such as native range, whether the plant has reported medical/herbal uses, etc.--is included when available.

The inclusion of a species in the Global Compendium of Weeds [GCW] does not necessarily indicate that the GCW author or sponsors (or the sponsors of the hosting website) consider the species a weed, nor do those entities vouch for the veracity of any particular source; the GCW is simply an attempt to provide summary information from a wide range of documented sources.

Read the introduction  to the GCW book for information about how to interpret the information presented at this website.

If you have corrections, can recommend additional source documents, or require further information about the GCW, please contact gcw@hear.org.

Notes on this version of the GCW website: The information on this website is more recent (includes more information) than the GCW book version (printed in 2002). Information on this site is current based on the data set* dated 24 January 2007. (*A small number [perhaps several hundred] species/reference combinations are missing from this online version due to data conversion issues.) The current online version SUPERCEDES the previous online version. For historical reference purposes, the old URLs are still available online, but should be considered obsolete. The current URLs (for species and references) may be considered permanent; it is not anticipated that these URLs will ever change.

The Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk (HEAR) project is currently funded by the Pacific Basin Information Node (PBIN) of the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) through PIERC (USGS) with support from HCSU (UH-Hilo). More details are available online.