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Cat’s claw creeper

Macfadyena unguis-cati
Landscape: , | Plant Form:
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Cat’s claw creeper was introduced to Australia as a garden plant, particularly for screening trellises and walls, and has escaped to become a major weed of native forests and riparian areas in eastern Australia.

Its climbing woody stems (lianas) cling to tree trunks, enabling it to grow into the forest canopy.

In native rainforests it can overtop and kill mature trees, opening up the canopy for light-loving weeds. This can lead to further degradation in the structure and composition of the native plant community.

Cat’s claw creeper competes with native plants by forming a dense above-ground mat and many underground reproductive tubers.

It produces abundant seeds that are dispersed by wind and water.

Cat’s claw creeper is native in Central and South America and the West Indies. It is widely naturalised around the world, occurring in southern Africa, south-eastern United States and Hawaii, Asia, the Pacific Islands, Republic of Cape Verde, Mascarene and recently in Europe.

While not among the 20 Weeds of National Significance, it was ranked a close 23rd in this assessment of Australia’s worst weeds.

It is already having a major impact in south-east Queensland and north-east NSW.

It is a threat to several endangered ecological communities and is also a pest of forestry, urban areas and infrastructure corridors.

Cat’s claw creeper is distinguished by showy yellow flowers, winged seeds 2 cm to 4 cm thick, a 15 cm to 45 cm long capsule, terminal leaflets modified into a three-clawed tendril, and swollen underground tubers.

It is a woody climber with stems extending for 20 metres or more.

Leaves comprise two egg-shaped to elliptic leaflets.

Flowers are yellow with orange lines in the tube. The plant flowers in spring

Seeds are carried by water and to a lesser extent by strong wind

This vine has the ability to completely smother native vegetation, even growing up over trees, and many bushland areas already have serious infestations of this weed.

It is especially troublesome along coastal and hinterland streams in Queensland and northern NSW.

 

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