Family: Asclepidiaceae

Status:

Description:
A woody vine with oval leaves, sometimes with a slightly heart-shaped base, and a white underside, growing in opposite pairs. The leaf upper surface is a dull dark green, not glossy. Milky sap is produced from cuts. Showy white shortly tubular flowers are held in the leaf axils. Seeds have a tuft of hairs to assist dispersal, and are packed tightly into a leathery green choko-like capsule, which splits when ripe.

Preferred habitat and impacts:
Widespread in a variety of habitats, but most common in moist soils along rivers.
Climbs over shrubs and small trees, smothering and breaking them down. Also spreads over the ground, smothering native groundcover plants.
The milky sap is irritant to the skin and eyes.

Dispersal:
Seed spreads on the wind and in water.

Look-alikes:
The flowers and choko-like fruits are distinctive but there are some native climbers with similar leaves. Milk vines (Marsdenia rostrata and M. flavescens) also have milky sap and opposite leaves. However, the upper surface is shiny and the underside pale green in M. rostrata and yellowish in M. flavescens. Flowers are smaller, and yellow, and seed pods long and narrow. Common silkpod (Parsonsia straminea) has similar leaves which are dull green above and paler green below, yellow flowers and long cigar-shaped pods. The small native vine Tylophora barbata has clear sap, opposite pale green leaves and the rarely produced flowers are small and dark purple.

Control
Young plants are easily hand-pulled if growing in loose soil, or can be dug out. Large plants can be treated by the scrape and paint method. Wear gloves when handling this plant and avoid getting the sap in the mouth or eyes.
When removing any species of vines, be careful about pulling them down, as this can damage the supporting plant. Generally they are better left to die off and break up in place, unless this would involve leaving a lot of seed in the canopy. Try to control vines before seed has formed to avoid this problem, but if fruits are present (even if they are still green), they should be collected as carefully as possible and destroyed by burning or deep burial.