Asian Spiderflower: Spot the Yellow Flowered Weed in Rainfed Rice
Asian spiderflower is a hairy broadleaf weed with yellow flowers that grows in rainfed lowland rice fields in the Philippines. It looks much like fringed spiderflower, but its flowers are yellow, not pink. This page shows how to spot it, what it takes from your palay, and how to control it before its long pods split.
What Is Asian Spiderflower?
This weed belongs to the spider flower family. It carries a long list of local names: apoy apoyan, balabalanoyan, hulaya, kabau, lampotaki, tantandok and sili silihan. Several of these names also go to fringed spiderflower, so it is easy to mix the two up. Asian spiderflower grows in rainfed lowland rice fields, where the soil dries out between rains and upland weeds take hold.
As an annual, it lives for one season and spreads only by seed. Its stems and leaves feel sticky because of their glandular hairs, which is where the scientific name viscosa comes from. Once the yellow flowers fade, long green pods form. When they ripen, they split into two halves and drop seed for the next crop.
| Name | Asian spiderflower |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Cleome viscosa |
| Family | Cleomaceae |
| Weed group | Broadleaves (see the three groups) |
| Local names | Apoy apoyan, balabalanoyan, hulaya, kabau, lampotaki, tantandok, sili silihan |
| Life cycle | Annual |
| Spreads by | Seeds |
| Where it grows | Rainfed lowland rice fields |
How to Identify Asian Spiderflower
Look for a hairy plant with round, green stems. The stems feel sticky when you touch them. Each leaf sits on a long stalk and splits into three oblong leaflets that widen toward the tip. As a broadleaf weed, it has netted veins on its leaves. Single yellow flowers grow from the upper part of the plant. After them come long, slim green pods that split into two halves when ripe.
- Round, green, hairy stems that feel sticky between your fingers.
- Leaves on long stalks, each split into three oblong leaflets.
- Single bright yellow flowers growing one at a time near the top.
- Long, slim green pods that split open into two halves.
- Look alike tip: fringed spiderflower has pink or lilac flowers and angular stems instead of yellow flowers and round stems.
Why It Hurts Your Palay
Asian spiderflower competes with your palay for light, water and fertilizer. In rainfed fields, dry spells leave the soil open, and this weed can sprout and spread before the rice covers the ground. A thick stand between the hills means less food and sunlight for the crop.
Its long pods split before harvest and drop seed onto the soil, so the problem grows each season you leave it. Weed seeds and plant parts can also mix with harvested grain. Besides that, thick patches give insects and other pests shelter close to your rice.
How to Control Asian Spiderflower
- Pull plants early while they are short, roots and all, before the first yellow flowers open.
- Remove plants before the long pods ripen and split, and carry them away from the paddy.
- Keep standing water in the field where possible, since this upland weed sprouts less under a steady flood.
What to Do at Each Age of Your Rice
- 0 to 5 days: keep the soil saturated. Use a pre emergence herbicide only if the field had many weeds last season.
- 6 to 10 days: hand weed in transplanted rice. In direct seeded rice, this is the window for an early post emergence spray.
- 11 to 20 days: keep water in the field, weed by hand or with a rotary weeder, and let Azolla and the Altica beetle help. Spray only if those fail.
- 21 to 30 days: top up the water and keep weeding. Spray only if weeding fails.
- 31 to 40 days (transplanted rice): hand weed. A spray this late is only a rescue.
- After any post emergence spray, bring the water back within 1 to 3 days at 3 to 5 cm and hold it for 4 to 5 days. Keep young rice above it.
Active Ingredients That Work on Broadleaves
If water and weeding cannot hold Asian spiderflower down, choose an active ingredient that works on broadleaves at the age of your rice. Each active ingredient in it is in a herbicide registered in the Philippines for rice. Shop by the ingredient on the label, never by the brand. If your field also has other kinds of weeds, the weed control helper in anee.io finds the ingredients that cover all of them.
| Rice age (days after planting) | Transplanted rice (lipat tanim) | Direct seeded rice (sabog tanim) |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 5 days | Pretilachlor, Oxadiazon, Butachlor plus 2,4 D IBE, Pyrazosulfuron ethyl plus pretilachlor, Imazosulfuron, Penoxsulam plus butachlor, Tefuryltrione plus triafamone, Thiobencarb plus 2,4 D IBE | Pretilachlor, Oxadiazon, Pretilachlor plus butachlor, Butachlor plus 2,4 D IBE, Pendimethalin, Pyrazosulfuron ethyl plus pretilachlor, Butachlor with safener |
| 6 to 10 days | Butachlor plus propanil, Cyhalofop butyl plus bispyribac sodium, Bispyribac sodium, Penoxsulam plus cyhalofop butyl, Pendimethalin, Cyhalofop butyl plus propanil, Imazosulfuron, Propyrisulfuron, Clomazone plus propanil, Thiobencarb plus propanil, Flucetosulfuron, Cyhalofop butyl plus florpyrauxifen benzyl | Butachlor plus propanil, Cyhalofop butyl plus bispyribac sodium, Bispyribac sodium, Pyribenzoxim plus cyhalofop butyl, Penoxsulam plus cyhalofop butyl, Cyhalofop butyl plus propanil, Pyrazosulfuron ethyl plus pretilachlor, Pendimethalin, Propyrisulfuron, Clomazone plus propanil, Thiobencarb plus propanil, Pretilachlor plus pyribenzoxim, Penoxsulam, Flucetosulfuron, Cyhalofop butyl plus florpyrauxifen benzyl |
| 11 to 20 days | Cyhalofop butyl plus bispyribac sodium, Bispyribac sodium, Pyribenzoxim plus cyhalofop butyl, Penoxsulam plus cyhalofop butyl, Metamifop plus bispyribac sodium, Bentazone, Cyhalofop butyl plus ethoxysulfuron, Propyrisulfuron, Fenoxaprop P ethyl plus ethoxysulfuron, Flucetosulfuron, Carfentrazone ethyl, Florpyrauxifen benzyl, Cyhalofop butyl plus florpyrauxifen benzyl | Cyhalofop butyl plus bispyribac sodium, Bispyribac sodium, Pyribenzoxim plus cyhalofop butyl, Penoxsulam plus cyhalofop butyl, Metamifop plus bispyribac sodium, Bentazone, Pyribenzoxim, Cyhalofop butyl plus ethoxysulfuron, Propyrisulfuron, Fenoxaprop P ethyl plus ethoxysulfuron, Flucetosulfuron, Carfentrazone ethyl, Florpyrauxifen benzyl, Cyhalofop butyl plus florpyrauxifen benzyl |
| 21 to 30 days | 2,4 D amine, 2,4 D IBE, MCPA, Metamifop plus bispyribac sodium, Bentazone, Metsulfuron methyl plus chlorimuron ethyl, Fenoxaprop P ethyl plus ethoxysulfuron, Carfentrazone ethyl | 2,4 D amine, 2,4 D IBE, Cyhalofop butyl plus bispyribac sodium, Pyribenzoxim plus cyhalofop butyl, MCPA, Metamifop plus bispyribac sodium, Bentazone, Metsulfuron methyl plus chlorimuron ethyl, Pyribenzoxim, Carfentrazone ethyl |
| 31 to 40 days | Metsulfuron methyl plus chlorimuron ethyl | Not listed for direct seeded rice |
Spray Safely
Use only herbicides registered with the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority, and follow the label on the pack: the rate, the timing, the water and the protective clothing. Switch herbicide groups between seasons so the weeds do not learn to survive them. Our guide to herbicides for rice explains the groups.
Keep Asian Spiderflower Out Next Season
- Plant clean, certified seed. Weed seeds mixed into the punla are the easiest way in.
- Keep the seedbed, the canals and the bunds free of weeds, so seed does not wash or blow into the paddy.
- Prepare the land well: flood, plow, let the weed seeds sprout, then kill them when you harrow. Level the field so water covers it evenly.
- Pull escapes before they flower and set seed, and carry them out of the paddy instead of leaving them on the bund.
- Keep the field clean after harvest and through the fallow, so fewer seeds build up in the soil for next season.
These steps work for every broadleaf weed in the paddy, not only this one. The weed management guide puts them in order for a whole season.
Not Sure It Is Asian Spiderflower?
Take a clear photo of the leaf, the stem and the flower or seed head, then ask Anee, the smart farm technician in anee.io, in Tagalog or English. Anee tells you which weed it most likely is, its group, and what to do at the age of your rice. You can also put the weeding days on your cropping calendar, so the team knows when to go in.
anee.io keeps your weeding, spraying and water on one calendar, and Anee answers when a plant looks wrong.
- Weeding days on the season calendar
- Photos and notes for every lot
- Anee, the smart farm technician, in Tagalog or English
Questions Farmers Ask About Asian Spiderflower
What is Asian spiderflower called in Tagalog and other dialects?
How do I control this weed in my rice field?
Why does this weed feel sticky?
Get Asian Spiderflower out of your field
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