Weed Identification

Australia > NSW > Sydney Metro (NRM) > Madeira Vine

Madeira Vine

Anredera cordifolia

Alternative Name(s): Lamb's Tail, Jalap.

Family: Basellaceae.

Form: Vine

Origin: Native to South America.

Flowers/Seedhead: Flowers: Fragrant, white, in drooping spikes. Flowers mostly summer to autumn outside tropics.

Description: Fleshy, sometimes woody, climber with stems extending for 20 m or more. Leaves usually fleshy, ovate, to about 6 cm long. Single seed per fruit.

Distinguishing features: Distinguished by climbing habit, aerial and root tubers and masses of fragrant flowers in drooping spikes.

Dispersal: Seed, tubers and spreading root system. Spread by water down watercourses.


Flower & leaves, Carlton, NSW, Feb

Notes: Garden escape, now widespread and common in coastal summer rainfall areas of NSW. Also spreading along watercourses in inland NSW. Serious weed that will invade the margins of rainforest smothering small trees and shrubs. Evidently partly salt tolerant, as it has been noted overgrowing mangroves (see photo). The underground and aerial tubers make it difficult to control.

References:

    Reference: Flora of NSW. G. Harden (ed), Vol. 1, 1990, page 177.

Web References: Search Australian web sites for further information on this weed.

Overgrown mangroves at Salt Pan Creek, NSW,
flowering in April
Seedling
Aerial tuber

This weed has been included in the WEEDeck field guide as card V04.
More information about WEEDeck is available from Sainty & Associates Pty. Ltd.

It has also been included in the 'Jumping the Garden Fence' report (WWF-Australia PDF - 1.19mb) which examines the impact of invasive garden plants on Australian agricultural land and natural ecosystems.

 

Australia > NSW > Sydney Metro (NRM) > Madeira Vine

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