Coming Soon to Your Yard: Skunk vine

…if it’s not there already.

Take a walk around the neighborhood, focusing on the home landscapes you are passing. You will notice an aggressive, twining perennial vine with oppositely arranged leaves on long stems, up to thirty feet long growing over azalea hedges, holly fern beds, single shrubs, up trees or along the ground. The leaves are pointy but may vary in size and shape. This is skunk vine, native to Asia. When you crush the leaves, you will detect a bad smelling stench (hence the name). When young, these vines are easy to overlook as their green leaves blend in with the vegetation of the unsuspecting shrub or tree that it climbs.

Unchecked, skunk vine will eventually cover and then weaken or kill the desirable trees and shrubs in your yard. Its dense layer of leaves prevents sunlight from reaching the leaves of your desired plants.

Do not let skunk vine produce its berry-like fruit

Skunk vine is more noticeable when it is blooming (August to September). It has small tubular, light grayish pink, or lilac flowers with red centers. If you see it in bloom, act fast because those multiple flowers will soon be producing abundant fruit that is small, spherical and shiny brown each containing two black seeds. They hang in clusters. A single large vine produces thousands of seeds in a single growing season. Birds will eat the fruit, spreading the seeds all over your yard, into your neighbors’ yards and into our forests and parks.

What to do about skunk vine

If possible, untwine the vine from reachable vegetation and follow it back to the ground where you may be able to dig out its shallow roots. If in a tree, pull the vine from the tree or cut it and then follow the vine to where the root is. There will usually be shallow runners that you should also follow and remove. Use a shovel to dig out more established roots.

Carefully dispose of plant remains by bagging and placing them in the trash. Skunk vine can spread vegetatively from stems that remain on the soil or by seed spread by birds. Do not compost any part of the plant. Do not place debris in a brush pile.

If you cannot trace the plant back to its roots, pull as much of the vine from a tree or shrubs but do not cut the stem. Pile the vine on the ground and spray it with an herbicide recommended by the Leon County Extension Office. The leaves will absorb the herbicide and carry it down to the roots, killing the plant. Follow label instructions. Be careful of nearby vegetation. Herbicide treatment is more effective during the growing season, late spring and summer.

Why this is important

Skunk vine was brought to Florida in 1897 as a potential fiber crop and was soon reported to be a troublesome weed. It is now listed on the Florida Noxious Weed List by the Florida Department of Agriculture which means it cannot be sold, grown, imported or transported. Too late! In 1993 it was labeled a Category I invasive species which means that it is altering native plant communities by displacing native species, or changing community structures or ecological functions, resulting in documented ecological damage.

Skunk vine, if not controlled, will eventually engulf trees, shrubs and other plants, even your lawn. Its dense layer of leaves prevents sunlight from reaching the leaves of plants. Our yards and natural areas begin to lose biodiversity as they are covered by skunk vine and other invasive vines such as Japanese climbing fern, English ivy, Asian jasmine, cat’s claw vine, Chinese wisteria, fig vine and others. With the loss of diversity of native vegetation, we lose the diversity of native insects which cannot digest plants that evolved in another part of the world. Less diversity in insects means less diversity in birds and other wildlife.

Protect the plants in your yard from skunk vine. Learn to recognize it while it is young for easy removal. Keep it from spreading into your neighbor’s yard and into our parks and natural areas. Seek and destroy!