Cryptostegia grandiflora
Rubber vine | |
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Flowers and leaves of rubber vine | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Gentianales |
Family: | Apocynaceae |
Genus: | Cryptostegia |
Species: | C. grandiflora
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Binomial name | |
Cryptostegia grandiflora R.Br. | |
Native range of C. grandiflora[1]
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Cryptostegia grandiflora, commonly known as rubber vine, is a woody-
Regeneration
Seeds germinate after the first rains of the wet season, but growth does not become rapid until well after the wet season begins. However, if enough water is available, rubber vine can grow as much as five metres in one month. Flowering usually occurs after the wet season ends, along with fruit set. In the West Kimberley, plant growth accelerates before the first rains come, stimulated by higher pre-wet season humidity and flowering occurs early and during the wet season. It is usual to find both mature and immature fruit on rubber vine at any one time.
Rubber vine seeds are dispersed by winds and flooding. This is particularly important in Australia where very large river floods can occur.[3]
The primary and initial dispersal dynamic is gravity, with the vast majority of seeds falling and germinating within metres of the parent vine. Aerial dispersal is an interplay between gravity and temporal wind and vertical air currents. Evidence shows individual seed dispersal as far as ten kilometres. It would not be unexpected to have distances far greater. Water dispersal by flood episodes is far less than commonly believed. Early rains prior to full flood episodes, typically result in germination, thus anchoring seedling against subsequent water flows.
Description
A rubber vine can grow up to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) tall as a shrub, but when it is supported on other vegetation as a vine, it can reach up to 30 metres or 100 feet in length. Rubber vine prefers areas where annual rainfall is between 400 and 1,400 millimetres (16 and 55 in), and is well adapted to a
Australia
Rubber vine is believed to have a potential range in Australia from about Coen in
Rubber vine is also extremely toxic to all livestock: less than 10 grams of rubber vine leaves can kill a 400 kilogram
Control of rubber vine has relied on importing biological agents from its native habitat in southwestern Madagascar, the most important of which is the “rubber vine rust” (
Africa
It is an invasive weed in the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces of northern South Africa[6] and in northern Namibia.[7] It proliferates along watercourses, smothers native plants and invades grazing land. Livestock and elephants are known to die when feeding on the plant.[8] As of 2015 biocontrol agents have not been released in South Africa.[6]
Gallery
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Habit and flowers
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Flowers
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Immature fruit
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Mature fruit
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Older stems
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Foliage
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Habit
References
- ^ McFadyen, R.E.; Harvey, G.J. (1990). "Distribution and control of rubbervine, Cryptostegia grandiflora, a major weed in northern Queensland. Plant Protection Quarterly". Plant Protection Quarterly (5): 152–155.
- ^ Sztab, Lin; Henderson, Lesley (2015). "Madagascar/Purple rubber vine" (PDF). arc.agric.za. Plant Protection Research Institute. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
- ^ ISBN 3-923381-27-1.
- ^ Radford, Dorothy J.; Gillies, Andrew D.; Hinds, John A. and Duffy, Patrick; ‘Naturally Occurring Cardiac Glycosides’; The Medical Journal of Australia; issue 144, pp. 540-543
- ^ R. E. McFadyen, J. J. Marohasy, 1990. A leaf feeding moth, Euclasta whalleyi (Lep.: Pyralidae) for the biological control of Cryptostegia grandiflora (Asclepiadaceae) in Queensland, Australia. Entomophaga 1990, Volume 35, Issue 3, pp 431-435 (abstract)
- ^ a b Sztab, Lin; Henderson, Lesley (2015). "Rubber vine" (PDF). arc.agric.za. Plant Protection Research Institute. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
- ^ Hoffmann, Luise (19 June 2017). "Beware of the Madagascar Rubber vine (Cryptostegia grandiflora)". namibian.com.na. The Namibian. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
- PMID 26179092.
- Land Protection, Queensland Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy. Rubber Vine Management, March 2004 (pdf file)