Vine Weeds of the North Coast

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Vine Weeds of the North Coast

• Meri Oakwood
• North Coast Weeds Advisory Committee

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Vine weeds of the North Coast

• Kudzu
• Cats Claw Creeper
• Madeira Vine
• Mysore Thorn
• Morning Glory spp.
• Also Passiflora spp., Dutchmans pipe

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Kudzu (Pueraria lobata)
Native of South Asia including Japan

• Introduced as ornamental and pasture legume
• Vigorous, perennial, semi woody vine
• Large tuber to 1.8m long 15cm diameter
• Riparian zones deep loamy soil
• Frost kills leaves, re-sprouts from tubers
• Mostly spread by humans

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Why is it a problem?

• Amongst World Worst Invasive Alien Species
• Capable of growing 30cm/day, 20m per year
• Can climb trees to a height of 30m
• Serious potential environmental weed

the plant that ate Georgia
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Distribution of Kudzu in NSW

• Patches throughout NSW North Coast
• Infestation recently discovered in Sydney

Map credit NSW Flora online 2008
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Identification
Mauve pea-like flowers Flower Feb/March
Seeds in hairy pods low viability
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Occasionally flowers are white
Coffs Harbour
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Large trifoliate leaves
Green top, grey-green below
Spreads mainly vegetatively
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Impact

• Can completely destroy ecosystems
• Smothers trees
• Can completely cover infrastructure such as
  roads, power poles, houses, bridges
• Reduces biodiversity -gt monoculture

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Control

• Class 3 Noxious Weed (FNCW, Clarence, Coffs,
  Bellingen, Nambucca)
• The plant must be fully and continuously
  suppressed and destroyed

• Integrated management depends on site
• Foliar spraying of large monoculture infestations
  
• Cut paint tubers after spraying or just after
  new spring growth emerges
• Small seedlings can be hand-pulled and small
  tubers manually dug up
• Cattle can be used in pasture situations

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Limpinwood, Tweed
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Actions to date

• NCWAC has CMA funded programs
• Tweed, Brunswick, Coffs, Bellingen
• Provide advice to other agencies on control
• Assessed kudzu in our Northern Rivers Invasive
  Plants Action Strategy
• scored Aa or B in north coast LGAs

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Coffs Harbour
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Before April 2005
After April 2006
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before
Bruxner Park Coffs Harbour
Control work by Envirotek and CHCC
after
Foliar spraying cut paint tubers
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Before
After
Coffs Harbour
Note pencil cedar in both photos
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Kudzu eradication IS possible
Thora
Nana Glen
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Madeira VineAnredera cordifolia
Kempsey
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Madeira vine

Native to South America

• Also known as Potato vine
• Vigorous climber to 30m long
• Tubers on roots at nodes on stems
• Aerial tubers 1-3cm long
• Seed not set in Australia
• Vegetative spread by tubers
• Spread by humans, water,
• possibly animals

Map credit NSW Flora online 2008
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Madeira vine (Anredera cordifolia)

• Some large infestations in
• Far North Coast region
• Isolated patches in Clarence,
• Coffs, Bellingen
• Sleeper weed could be
• much worse with no control

Map credit NSW Flora online 2008
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Control of Madeira vine

• scrape paint
• foliar spraying

Credit Bellinger Landcare

• focus of CMA funded projects
• currently being undertaken

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Cats Claw Creeper
Newton Boyd area
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Cats Claw Creeper (Macfadyena
unguis-cati)

Native to Brazil and Argentina

• Perennial climber to 30m long
• Leaves divided into three
• Tip leaflet forms small three claw
• 
  tendril
• Flowers yellow, trumpet like
• Tuberous roots spread by floods
• humans
• Seeds dispersed by wind water

Picture credit Brisbane Rainforest Action
Information Network
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Cats Claw Creeper
John Ross Lloyd Foster

• Orara River Restoration Project
• Began 1997
• Rivercare, CHCC, Bush regeneration contractors
• Survey 1998 estimated 5000 moderately to
• heavily infested trees over 20-25km
• Year 1 1665 hours
• Year 2 following follow-up
• Very little flowering since 1998
• Suppressed but not yet defeated
• Insufficient funding

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Mysore Thorn (Caesalpinia decapetala)
Native to south east Asia

• Shrub or climber with many thorns
• Leaves compound with 8-12 leaflets
• Prickles on leaf stalk and main vein
• Flowers cream to bright yellow in winter
• Fruit a flattened pod to 10cm long
• Seeds spread by birds and water

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Mysore Thorn

• High priority in north coast
• Scattered satellite infestations
• Achievable
• Foliar spraying
• Regular follow-up required

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Aerial yam or Air potato
(Dioscorea bulbifera)
Native to Tropical Asia

• Tweed to Taree
• Low profile weed
• Patchy distribution
• Twiner, wiry stems
• Heart shaped leaves
• Stems die back annually
• Spreads by bulbils
• seeds

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Dutchmans Pipe (Aristolochia
elegans)
Native to Brazil
Fast growing creeper Leaves heart shaped
Mostly spread by humans also by wind, water

gravity
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Crabs eye vine (Abrus precatorius)
Native to Sub/Tropical Australia

• only in Far North Coast
• (north of Brunswick Heads)
• woody twiner to 3m
• perennial
• stems to 10m long
• pink,white or purple pea flowers
• seeds highly toxic
• Spread by birds and
• humans

Map credit NSW Flora online 2008

Photo credits Rob Price
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Dolichos Pea (Dipogon lignosus)

• climbing pea species
• highly invasive

Map credit NSW Flora online 2008
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Acknowledgements

• Thank you to
• Sydney Weeds Committees
• Frances Pike
• North Coast Weeds Advisory Committee
• Reece Luxton
• Peter Foster