Bindweed (Calystegia sp.) to be next?

On uprooting Japanese honeysuckle in the "Arena", this was found.

It appears to be a piece of underground runner of bindweed. Quite fat for C. sepium...maybe another Calystegia? [UPDATE in 2020 - I don't know what thinner species I was referring to, I suspect it was just young vines of the pale pink-and-white flowered Calystegia silvatica x sepium, the commonest local invasive, which I have since learned is a hybrid of the native C. sepium supsp roseata with the invasive C. silvatica (subsp distichum). This is in fact the species present wild here along the upper margin of Eskdale Forest Reserve. While the vines emerging in Gahnia Grove were uprooted before they could flower, it is unlikely they were anything else, although the native C. sepium subsp roseata was later identified in the raingarden in the Domain Rd margin of the forest, and collected for planting here.] then another here and then another, under manuka canopy, here.

Anyway, since finding the first we have been mulling the best way to control it when it emerges. The vines are just as capable of killing trees by occlusion of light as the heavier-weight honeysuckle or jasmine, but the slender stems are much easier to cut. If it sprawls across bare ground before native seedlings appear, it might be useful in the short-term in preventing dessication and other weed invasion (eg kikuyu, if it is not yet eradicated in that area).

Posted on July 7, 2018 07:58 AM by kaipatiki_naturewatch kaipatiki_naturewatch

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Pieces of ?Calystegia runner found yesterday include one c8mmDiam.

For runners this big to exist, surely there must have been considerable foliage at some stage? Or can they fatten themselves from the soil along?

Or is this a large species, or not Calystegia at all? I may have to let one develop a few leaves to ID it. But letting it mature to flowering could be unwise, to say the least.

Posted by kaipatiki_naturew... over 5 years ago

See above update to the original post, for species ID.

Posted by kaipatiki_naturew... over 3 years ago

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