Tiwi Weeds - Vines

Rangoon Creeper (Combretum indicum)

• NT Declaration Status: No NT status, environmental weed.

• Vigorous climbing woody vine that can grow up to 21 m creating dense, smothering mats.

• Leaves are 7-15 cm long and elliptical in shape.

• Flowers are in fragrant clusters and are mainly red but can also be white and pink. They are tubular in shape, consisting of oblong petals 6–8 mm long. Flowering occurs throughout the year if enough water is available.

• Fruits are dark brown, 3-3.5 cm long with five prominent wings.

• Rangoon Creeper threatens native ecosystems by climbing and smothering vegetation. Once established it spreads via suckers, making it difficult to eradicate.

Ornamental Rubber Vine (Cryptostegia madagascariensis)

• NT Declaration Status: Class A

• Woody, multi-stemmed vine with shiny dark green leaves climbing 30 m into tree canopies, or up to 3 m as a shrub if unsupported.

• Stems are greyish brown with prominent, whitish, warty spots. They release a milky latex sap when leaves, fruit or branches are cut.

• Bell-shaped flowers its pink or purplish-pink tubular flowers (3-4 cm long and 5-6 cm across) have five spreading petal lobes. Flowering is from October to April.

• Seeds form in large pods that grow mostly in pairs.

• Large seed pods up to 9 cm long and 4 cm wide. Seeds have silky tufts of white hairs and are mainly dispersed by wind and water

• Ornamental Rubber Vine is a highly invasive species that smothers native vegetation, destroys biodiversity, and forms impenetrable thickets. It infests waterways, open forests, rainforests, monsoon vine forests, and even mangroves.