Flora of New Zealand Series

lily of the valley vine

Stems scrambling, mostly herbaceous but woody at base, angled, hairy. Petiole 5-20-(35) mm long. Lamina 0.5-5 × 0.5-3.5 cm, ovate-rhombic, obovate or suborbicular, with appressed hairs; base attenuate; apex rounded to obtuse. Fls ± pendent, on slender hairy pedicels. Calyx divided nearly to base; lobes narrowly triangular-acute, hairy. Corolla 6-10 mm long, urceolate, white, with villous band below base of stamen insertion; lobes acute, ultimately reflexed. Berry 1-2.1 cm long, ovoid to oblong-ellipsoid, cream to pale yellow. Seeds ± discoid, hairy.

N.: throughout, abundant in Auckland, Thames, Tauranga, Napier, Wellington, and other mild areas; S.: Christchurch.

Warm temperate Argentina and Uruguay 1940

Disturbed scrub and other modified vegetation, waste places, roadsides, garden surrounds.

FL Jan-Dec.

Lily of the valley vine is an escape from cultivation. It mainly spreads by an extensive underground system of suckering roots which makes it difficult to eradicate, but some of its occurrences are from seed. It is regarded as a serious weed because of its rampant growth which smothers other plants. It has been recorded previously in N.Z. as S. rhomboidea.