Invasive weed 2: Cat’s claw creeper

Name: Cat’s claw creeper
Scientific name: Macfadyena unguis-cati (L.) A.H.Gentry
Other names: syn. Dolichandra unguis-cati (L.) L.Lohmann
Level: Category 3 restricted invasive plant

The Cat’s claw creeper is a woody climbing vine that is native to Central and Southern America. The stems are long and slender with older stems becoming woody over a period of time. Cat’s claw creeper leaves have 2 leaflets with 3-clawed tendrils called cat’s claw that are 3-17mm long. The vine has large, bright yellow, bell-shaped flowers and bears exceedingly long, narrow and flat seed pods that contain papery seeds (Shortus & Dhileepan, 2010).

Figure 1: Cat’s claw creeper flower

Figure 2: Cat’s claw creeper leaves with clawed tendrils 

Figure 3: seed pods

Due to the design of the Cat’s claw creeper seeds, the seeds travel mostly by wind due to their papery wings. The seeds can also be dispersed by water ways and rivers. Cat’s claw creeper plant also has tuberous roots that can also be spread by floods and by attaching themselves on animals and humans. This species prefers warm temperate, tropical and subtropical areas and is found in south-eastern Queensland and north Queensland(Taylor & Dhileepan, 2012).

As Cat’s claw creeper is a category 3 invasive plant, efforts to slow the spread have been made. A physical control is by using pruning saws/machete/brush hooks to remove leads/stems up the tree, however regrowth can occur from underground tubers. The tingid bug Carvalhotingis visenda, the moth Hypocosmia pyrochroma and a leaf-mining jewel beetle Hylaeogena jureceki are been used as a biological control of the Cat’s claw creeper by feeding on it (business.qld.gov, 2020).

References

Shortus, M. & Dhileepan, K. 2010, "Two varieties of the invasive cat's claw creeper, 'Macfadyena unguis-cati' (bignoniaceae) in Queensland, Australia", Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, The, vol. 116, pp. 13-20.

Taylor, D.B.J. & Dhileepan, K. 2012, "Comparative growth and biomass allocation of two varieties of cat's claw creeper, Dolichandra unguis-cati (Bignoniaceae) in Australia", Australian Journal of Botany, vol. 60, no. 7, pp. 650-659.

https://www.business.qld.gov.au/industries/farms-fishing-forestry/agriculture/land-management/health-pests-weeds-diseases/weeds-diseases/invasive-plants/restricted/cats-claw-creeper retrieved 27/04/2020