Contributed by Ethan Mimnaugh, Mooloolah Landcare Nursery
We grow them on trellises, or on fences. They wind their way through our gardens. Sometimes they smother the trees, but sometimes they hold them together. For all kinds of reasons, vines are an extremely interesting type of plant.
Today I’m going to discuss some of the defining features of vines, the different types of vines, and discuss some problematic exotic vines. Along the way, I’ll list plenty of great native vines as well.
Vines are plants that either trail or climb. There are vines on the beach like Goats Foot (Ipomea pes-caprae) or Yellow Beach Pea (Vigna marina). Most of the time, however, we are talking about scandent plants.
Vines can climb in 4 main ways, although there are always exceptions to the rule in nature. One way is through adventitious roots which attach to the surfaces of their support. This is done by Native Pepper (Piper hederaceum). Another way is by winding around a support. Scrambling Lilly (Geitonoplesium cymosum), a tasty bushtucker, happily twines around even very slender supports.
Vines may also use tendrils, which you might be familiar with from Passionfruit Vines, that grab onto their supports. We also have a Native Passionfruit (Passiflora herbertiana) with similar tendrils. To keep with the edible theme, some thorny vines use their hooks to grip onto their supports like the very tasty, Australian Melon Berry (Maclura cochinchinensis).
Another distinction between vines, is the Liana vs Herbaceous distinction. That is to say, the woody vines and the nonwoody vines. Things like Monkey Rope Vine (Parsonsia straminea) or Native Wisteria (Austrocallerya megasperma) grow thick woody stems over time, eventually growing firm in their structure over their support. Other plants like Climbing Guinea Vine (Hibbertia scandens) and Snake Vine (Stephania japonica) have a softer stem which can remain flexible even at full size.
The last thing to consider is the danger that exotic vines bring to our bushland. Things like Syngonium, and Philodendron are able to totally collapse our native trees, growing far quicker and bigger than our native ecosystems can handle.
By far the worst of them are Cat’s Claw Creeper (Dolichandra unguis-cati) and Madeira Vine (Anredera cordifolia). They are able to destroy our waterways, and smother over 100 year old trees.
These two vines are important to report to council or to a local landcare. There are even programs in South East Queensland which breed beetles that specifically eat these weeds.
If you want to learn more, or grab some awesome native vines which won’t smother things, then come down to Mooloolah River Landcare and speak to us. We love to educate and show off our display plants.
