Dioscorea oppositifolia (herb, vine, climber)

Ecology Distribution Management Info Impact Info References and Links Contacts

General Impact Tu (2002) states that D. oppositifolia is a fast growing, twining vine that has escaped from cultivation and has the ability to rapidly invade pristine habitats, especially riparian corridors. It has a swift rate of vegetative growth and a prolific rate of asexual reproduction via bulbils. In North American infested areas, it lowers native species richness and abundance by outcompeting and eliminating native plant species. It does this by quickly outgrowing the native herbs and seedlings, thickly blanketing all adjacent vegetation, and competitively excluding light. It may also weight-down and break branches of large trees and shrubs (similar to kudzu, Pueraria montana). An entire stand of native shrubs may become covered by D. oppositifolia, and it shades and eventually kills the stand. It is also able to completely cover the ground so that all native herbaceous ground cover is excluded. No Impact information recorded for Dioscorea oppositifolia