Vincetoxicum nigrum | |
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[1] | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Gentianales |
Family: | Apocynaceae |
Genus: | Vincetoxicum |
Species: | V. nigrum |
Binomial name | |
Vincetoxicum nigrum (L.) Moench | |
Synonyms | |
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Vincetoxicum nigrum, a species in the family Apocynaceae, also known as black swallow-wort, [2] Louise's swallow-wort, [3] or black dog-strangling vine, [4] is a species of plant that is native to Europe and is found primarily in Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain. [5] It is an invasive plant species in the northeastern United States, parts of the Midwest, southeastern Canada, and California. In 2020, wild plants were found in Timaru, New Zealand. [6]
Vincetoxicum nigrum is a perennial, herbaceous vine bearing ovate leaves with pointed tips. The leaves are 3–4 inches (7.6–10.2 cm) long, and 2–3 inches (5.1–7.6 cm) wide, occurring in pairs on the stem. The flowers have five petals, and are star-shaped with white hairs. The flowers range in color from dark purple to black. The fruit of Vincetoxicum nigrum is a slender, tapered follicle that ranges in color from green through light brown and is tightly packed with seeds, each bearing a fluffy pappus to allow distribution by the wind. [5]
Vincetoxicum nigrum tends to grow in upland areas and is tolerant to variable light, salt, and moisture levels. In the United States, the vine is often found in abandoned fields, hedgerows, brushy areas, woodlands, river banks, transportation corridors, quarries, agricultural fields, and gardens. In gardens, the plant is seen as a fast-growing weed. [5]
Vincetoxicum nigrum emerges from an underground stem in the spring, and flowers during June and July. Vincetoxicum nigrum is self-pollinating, and follicles form throughout the summer. The number of follicles formed is directly linked to the amount of light the plant receives. If there is a lower level of light, then there are fewer follicles compared to a plant exposed to a higher level of light. The seeds begin to be released by mid-August, and continue to be dispersed by air currents into early October.
Each seed is polyembryonic and contains about one to four embryos per seed, increasing Vincetoxicum nigrum's proliferation. Seeds have delicate fibrous "parachutes" used in wind dispersal over long distances. In addition to seeds for reproduction, Vincetoxicum nigrum also uses rhizomes as a method of propagation, meaning that the plant clones itself underground and produces new plants. After seed dispersal, the plant dies to the ground in the winter, reappearing in the spring. [5]
The first sighting of Vincetoxicum nigrum in North America was recorded in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1854. In 1864, a plant collector recorded that it was "escaping from the botanical garden where it is a weed promising to be naturalized". Vincetoxicum nigrum escaped from a garden in the Cambridge area of Massachusetts and naturalized in the surrounding states and is still spreading today. [5] Massachusetts [7] and New York [8] classify the plant as an invasive species. Beyond the northeastern US, the plant has been reported in Wisconsin and California. [5]
In the United States and Canada, Vincetoxicum nigrum is a threat to native species because it crowds them out. For example, it can completely replace a field of native goldenrod. [9] Crowding out other species results in a reduced habitat for wildlife, which may become endangered because they can no longer find their optimal habitat.
Vincetoxicum nigrum threatens the rare limestone pavement barren ecosystems by crowding out plants that the native wildlife needs to survive. It may also decrease bird presence in grasslands, which may in turn cause certain insect species populations to increase.
In Vermont, Vincetoxicum nigrum crowds out the endangered species Jesup's milk vetch (Astragalus robbinsii var. jesupii). In Rhode Island, Vincetoxicum nigrum has been reported as reducing the effectiveness of electric fences, which may allow livestock to be put into danger or lost. [10]
In addition, Vincetoxicum nigrum crowds out a species of milkweed that monarch butterflies use as their larval food plant. Thus, the spread of this plant threatens populations of monarch butterflies. Overall, Vincetoxicum nigrum reproduces very prolifically, and can easily take over various habitats in a short time. Most of the possible implications of Vincetoxicum nigrum's changing the structure of various ecosystems have not yet been studied. [5]
There are four methods of management that can possibly be used for the management of Vincetoxicum nigrum. These methods are chemical, manual, mechanical, and biological. Only the chemical, manual, mechanical methods are actually used in the United States and Canada. The biological method may be used in the future. [11] Overall, early detection and removal is the best management strategy.
The best chemical management of Vincetoxicum nigrum is through the use of systemic herbicides which prevent seeds from being viable. Garlon 4 (triclopyr) and RoundUp Pro (glyphosate) are the main systemic herbicides that are used to control the vine. The systemic herbicide is most effective when sprayed on the plant after flowering has begun. If the herbicide is used after follicles have formed, it is less effective because viable seeds may still form. The most effective treatment using systemic herbicides is through a cut stem application, consisting of applying the chemical to the recently-cut stems of the swallow-wort vines. [5]
Manual management is the removal of Vincetoxicum nigrum from the ground by digging up its rhizomes so that the plant cannot reproduce. [5] The vine has an extensive rhizome system which must be completely removed to prevent new shoots from growing. Trying to remove the vine by pulling will often cause the plant to detach from its rhizome, allowing the vine to continue to grow new shoots. Seed pods must be disposed of carefully, to avoid inadvertently spreading the seeds to new areas.
Mechanical management is the mowing down of Vincetoxicum nigrum. This method does not stop growth, but it does stop seed crops. No seed crop means that the plant has no offspring. [5]
Biological management is the use of the vine's natural enemies to stop the spread and diminish the population of Vincetoxicum nigrum. In the United States, Vincetoxicum nigrum has no natural enemies, but in its native Europe, certain caterpillars, beetles, and diseases attack the plant. Researchers at Cornell University and the USDA have investigated the use of natural enemies as a way to control the plant. The use of natural enemies is controversial, because the implications of adding more non-native species to threatened areas is unknown. [11] In 2014 Hypena caterpillars were released in Ontario, Canada to help control Vincetoxicum's spread. [12]
Weed control is a type of pest control, which attempts to stop or reduce growth of weeds, especially noxious weeds, with the aim of reducing their competition with desired flora and fauna including domesticated plants and livestock, and in natural settings preventing non native species competing with native species.
Asclepias is a genus of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants known as milkweeds, named for their latex, a milky substance containing cardiac glycosides termed cardenolides, exuded where cells are damaged. Most species are toxic to humans and many other species, primarily due to the presence of cardenolides. However, as with many such plants, some species feed upon them or from them. The most notable of them is the monarch butterfly, which uses and requires certain milkweeds as host plants for their larvae.
Solanum carolinense, the Carolina horsenettle, is not a true nettle, but a member of the Solanaceae, or nightshade family. It is a perennial herbaceous plant, native to the southeastern United States, though its range has expanded throughout much of temperate North America. The plant is an invasive in parts of Europe, Asia, and Australia. The stem and undersides of larger leaf veins are covered with prickles.
Aegopodium podagraria, commonly called ground elder, is a species of flowering plant in the carrot family Apiaceae that grows in shady places. The name "ground elder" comes from the superficial similarity of its leaves and flowers to those of elder (Sambucus), which is not closely related. Other common names include herb gerard, bishop's weed, goutweed, gout wort, snow-in-the-mountain, English masterwort and wild masterwort. It is the type species of the genus Aegopodium. It is native to Europe and Asia, but has been introduced around the world as an ornamental plant, where it occasionally poses an ecological threat as an invasive exotic plant.
Centaurea diffusa, also known as diffuse knapweed, white knapweed or tumble knapweed, is a member of the genus Centaurea in the family Asteraceae. This species is common throughout western North America but is not actually native to the North American continent, but to the eastern Mediterranean.
Myriophyllum aquaticum is a flowering plant, a vascular dicot, commonly called parrot's-feather and parrot feather watermilfoil.
Swallowwort or swallow-wort is a common name for several plants and plant families. The term may be a description of poisonous effects, or indicate that a plant was formerly used medicinally for tonsillitis.
Centaurea solstitialis, the yellow star-thistle, is a species of thorny plant in the genus Centaurea, which is part of the family Asteraceae. A winter annual, it is native to the Mediterranean Basin region and invasive in many other places. It is also known as golden starthistle, yellow cockspur and St. Barnaby's thistle.
Asclepias syriaca, commonly called common milkweed, butterfly flower, silkweed, silky swallow-wort, and Virginia silkweed, is a species of flowering plant. It is native to southern Canada and much of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, excluding the drier parts of the prairies. It is in the genus Asclepias, the milkweeds. It grows in sandy soils as well as other kinds of soils in sunny areas.
Vincetoxicum rossicum is a flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae. It is a perennial herb native to southern Europe and is a highly invasive plant growing in all of the Eastern United States, in the mid west, and southern Ontario and Quebec in Canada. It has several common names including swallowwort, pale swallowwort, and dog-strangling vine; though it does not actually strangle dogs, it can “strangle” native plants and small trees if it is in dense patches. There has historically been much confusion about the genus it belongs to, with authors placing it within Vincetoxicum and others within Cynanchum, but recent molecular and chemical analyses have shown it to belong in the genus Vincetoxicum.
Vincetoxicum hirundinaria, commonly named white swallow-wort, is a long-lived herbaceous perennial of the genus Vincetoxicum in the family Apocynaceae.
Cynanchum laeve is a vining perennial herb native to eastern and central U.S. states and Ontario. Common names include sand vine, honeyvine, honeyvine milkweed, bluevine milkweed, climbing milkweed, and smooth swallow-wort. The root system of C. laeve can cause it to be very difficult to eradicate, especially in agricultural fields. It is a larval food of monarch butterflies and milkweed tussock moth larvae. C. laeve can cause eye irritation if touched and can be toxic to humans and livestock if consumed in large quantities.
A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it conflicts with human preferences, needs, or goals. Plants with characteristics that make them hazardous, aesthetically unappealing, difficult to control in managed environments, or otherwise unwanted in farm land, orchards, gardens, lawns, parks, recreational spaces, residential and industrial areas, may all be considered weeds. The concept of weeds is particularly significant in agriculture, where the presence of weeds in fields used to grow crops may cause major losses in yields. Invasive species, plants introduced to an environment where their presence negatively impacts the overall functioning and biodiversity of the ecosystem, may also sometimes be considered weeds.
Neyraudia reynaudiana, commonly known as Burma reed, silk reed, cane grass, or false reed, is a tall, perennial, large-plumed grass native to subtropical Asia, but invasive in southern Florida in the United States.
V. nigrum may refer to:
Kudzu is an invasive plant species in the United States, introduced from Asia with devastating environmental consequences, earning it the nickname "the vine that ate the South". It has been spreading rapidly in the Southern United States, "easily outpacing the use of herbicide, spraying, and mowing, as well increasing the costs of these controls by $6 million annually". Estimates of the vine's spread vary, from the United States Forest Service's 2015 estimate of 2,500 acres per year to the Department of Agriculture's estimate of as much as 150,000 acres annually.
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Hypena opulenta is a moth in the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Hugo Theodor Christoph in 1877. Its reported native range expands from Eastern Europe Ukraine and Russia, south to Afghanistan, Iran, and Syria. In 2013, the moth larva was approved for release in North America to act as a biocontrol agent for invasive swallow-wort plants, Vincetoxicum rossicum and Vincetoxicum nigrum.
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Media related to Vincetoxicum nigrum at Wikimedia Commons