Fringed Twinevine/Climbing Milkweed

[chrysanthemum]

macmex had posted a picture some time ago of a mystery weed that resembled a sweet potato vine.  In that case, it turned out to be bindweed.  I had mentioned vines growing in our “northern wasteland” that I had thought were bindweed, but the identification didn’t seem quite right.  I had come across another option as “Chameleon Plant” and thought that might be it because of the smell.  It’s growing again this year, and it has flowers, so I think I now have a positive identification: Fringed Twinevine or Climbing Milkweed.







I had no trouble pulling it out and disposing of it when I thought it was bindweed.  Chameleon plant gave me no qualms whatsoever either.  This one, however, is a native plant, so it belongs here.  It also, it turns out, is a host plant, for the Queen caterpillars, and they will wander farther to pupate apparently, so this must be how I ended up with a Queen chrysalis in my corn patch.  We try to encourage native milkweeds on our property, but I’m feeling rather torn about what to do.  This vine is in the same area as my garden and spreading towards it.  I definitely don’t want seedpods sending seeds into my garden soil, and I don’t want this taking root there.  In the first picture above, you can see how it is climbing all over an old lantana bush.

I figure I can pull up tons of it and never eliminate it.  It grows so aggressively that it will always come back, but I don’t want to pull it up with caterpillars feeding on it.

It does still have the same horrible stench as last year.  It’s like body odor from a teenage athlete who doesn’t wear deodorant and then lets his sweaty workout clothes sit in a plastic bag for about a week.  (Other descriptions say that it smells like hot rubber.). My husband and I pulled up a different weed that this had twined around.  Just carrying that little bit a little ways across the property gave me plenty of chance to get reacquainted with the smell. 

The flowers are beautiful, however.  I think that if I can tomorrow I’m going to go out and see whether I see caterpillars on it.  (I understand that Queen caterpillars are cannibalistic, so I wouldn’t be able to raise more than one in our fish tank.)

[heavyhitterokra]

Chrysanthemum,

Those are beautiful flowers! I can almost smell them, just from your description though, they don't sound very appealing in that regard, but they are still nice to look at. I'm with you, it would be tough to know what to do about them, keep them or weed them out.

[woodeye]

I searched my pastures today, I thought surely I could find at least one Milkweed. Nope, no milkweeds this year, and no thistles this year. The mystery of the missing stuff continues.

I've still got plenty of red cedar trees, shoemakes, plum thickets, etc. 

Yes, chrysanthemum, your Milkweed flowers are pretty. I don't have that type of Milkweed, even on years that I do have Milkweeds. Mine are small, I think the name of them is just Green Milkweed. They are just a standard issue type, native to my area as far as I know...

[heavyhitterokra]

I've been reading up on twining milkweeds. After the flowers are pollinated, they form seed pods that open to release tufted seeds. Sounds like if you don't want them to spread, you need to whack the flowers before they produce seeds. It was also mentioned that they are toxic and warned not to rub your eyes while any sap is still on your hands.  On the other hand, they were touted as being really good for butterflies.

[chrysanthemum]

Sept 5, 2022 16:35:02 GMT -6 heavyhitterokra said:

Chrysanthemum,

Those are beautiful flowers! I can almost smell them, just from your description though, they don't sound very appealing in that regard, but they are still nice to look at. I'm with you, it would be tough to know what to do about them, keep them or weed them out.

Thankfully the flowers don’t have the nasty stench.  It’s the milky (toxic) sap from the vines that smells so bad.  If you don’t break the vines, you won’t really notice an aroma.  If you sniff the flowers there’s something faint, and it’s more pleasant than unpleasant, but breaking the vines is another matter.  When we thought it was bindweed last year, we asked my son to work on pulling it (for payment since it was a big job), and he couldn’t do it.  He has allergies which affect his skin anyway, and the vines brushing his legs were a problem.  When he first started doing the work, I was watering my garden, and I could smell the awful scent even from 40 feet away.  He got to go inside and shower, and my husband and I took over the job.  The smell was overpowering.  

[chrysanthemum]

Sept 6, 2022 8:05:31 GMT -6 heavyhitterokra said:

I've been reading up on twining milkweeds. After the flowers are pollinated, they form seed pods that open to release tufted seeds. Sounds like if you don't want them to spread, you need to whack the flowers before they produce seeds. It was also mentioned that they are toxic and warned not to rub your eyes while any sap is still on your hands.  On the other hand, they were touted as being really good for butterflies.

I think we’re going to let the flowers bloom for a while for the butterflies but will try to cut them out before they can spread seed.  We didn’t spot any caterpillars during our check, and we didn’t even see butterflies frequenting the blooms, but I’m sure they do.  I think we’ll hope for a really cool morning so that one of use can don coveralls and use the string trimmer when it’s time to do the cutting.  

[chrysanthemum]

Sept 5, 2022 19:00:24 GMT -6 woodeye said:

I searched my pastures today, I thought surely I could find at least one Milkweed. Nope, no milkweeds this year, and no thistles this year. The mystery of the missing stuff continues.

I've still got plenty of red cedar trees, shoemakes, plum thickets, etc. 

Yes, chrysanthemum , your Milkweed flowers are pretty. I don't have that type of Milkweed, even on years that I do have Milkweeds. Mine are small, I think the name of them is just Green Milkweed. They are just a standard issue type, native to my area as far as I know...

We have another type of milkweed that has a green flower.  It’s called “Antelope Horns” and it grows along the ground on stalks.  It has a bigger flower than the twining milkweed, and that’s where I found my first Monarch that I ever raised.  It was our first spring in Texas, and I had actually taken a picture of the plant to try to identify it, and looking at the picture I noticed a caterpillar on the ground.  I went right back outside and rescued it. 

[woodeye]

chrysanthemum, That is a beautiful milkweed! I've never seen anything like that around here, not even close.

I'm jealous again, you have all those rocks, and some beautiful milkweeds growing out of all those rocks. And I bet you have dirt dobbers too.

I don't have thistles or milkweeds this year, nor do I have dirt dobbers this year, even though I have lots of dirt...  

[chrysanthemum]

I’ve seen some old mud dauber nests inside a shed on the property, but quite frankly I’m not always too good at identifying all the different wasps I see flying around. I mostly give them a wide berth since I’m sensitive to stings.

My neighbors have some of the the orange “Butterfly weed” milkweed growing in front of their house in a landscaped area. It’s just beautiful, and when my son and I were visiting up there the other day, I noticed a seed pod that had broken open, and the seeds were starting to spill out. It was fun to show that to my little guy.