- Type
- Climbing vine
- Status in NSW
- Must not be sold anywhere in NSW. Weed of National Significance.
Madeira vine is a fast-growing climber that smothers everything from ground covers to tall trees. It spreads from little potato-like tubers that grow along its stems, and those tubers keep sprouting for years, so a careful approach is everything.
How to identify it
Madeira vine twines up to 20 metres into trees. Look for:
- bright green, fleshy, heart-shaped leaves 2 to 15 cm long
- warty, potato-like tubers 10 to 30 mm across hanging from the stems
- long drooping spikes of small, fragrant, cream flowers in late summer and autumn (which give it its other name, lamb's tails)
Where it grows
Madeira vine loves our warm, wet coastal climate. It grows in sun or shade and is common on rainforest edges, creek banks and riverbanks, in urban bushland and in old gardens. It can even grow over mangroves.
Why it's a problem
- It smothers plants, including the canopy of tall trees, and the weight of tubers can bring down branches and whole trees.
- It threatens endangered plants and ecological communities in NSW.
- It reduces food and shelter for native animals.
- A dense infestation can drop up to 1,500 tubers per square metre, and they stay alive for years.
How to control it
Start with isolated plants and the areas you most want to protect, and plan for years of follow-up.
- Dig out small plants with all their tubers, and collect every piece. Any leaf, stem or tuber left on the ground can regrow.
- Stem scraping: scrape a section of stem to the white layer and apply herbicide within 15 seconds, repeating as high as you can reach. This is the safest method in sensitive areas.
- On vines in trees, lay a tarp underneath to catch falling tubers before you cut or pull.
- Spot spray new shoots from fallen tubers when they have 2 to 8 leaves.
- Herbicide works best in the warmer months. A leaf-feeding beetle released as a biological control is established at many sites, so ask the council before treating a release site.
Always follow the herbicide label.
Safety and disposal
- Never dump or home-compost Madeira vine. Tubers sprout wherever they land.
- Bag all plant material, especially tubers, and ask Port Macquarie-Hastings Council how to dispose of it.
- Cut vines can survive in the canopy and keep dropping tubers for up to two years, so keep checking under treated trees.
Stopping it coming back
- Remove Madeira vine from gardens before it escapes.
- Never dump garden waste in bushland or along creeks.
- Check creek banks after floods, as water carries the tubers downstream.
