THIS IS LISTED ON THE FEDERAL NOXIOUS WEED LIST. IT IS LISTED AS A CATEGORY 1 INVASIVE IN GEORGIA, TEXAS & FLORIDA. IT IS PROHIBITED IN THESE STATES. THIS PLANT IS NON NATIVE TO THE U.S.

This will smother entire trees to the point of killing them. It shades out native vegetation and prevents seeds from sprouting beneath it. It has become a huge problem in the Florida Everglades. Two moths whose larvae eat the vine have been introduced to control it. Great, let's get 2 more non-natives going to wipe out a non-native. How many times do we have to do this to learn that 9 times out of 10 we just end up with more problems from the "introduced cure"?
The dense growth habit of this plant creates a fire hazard by providing a "fire tower" for small ground fires to quickly spread to the tree canopy.

It spreads by rhizomes as well as spores.

It is native to Africa, Asia, and Australia and was introduced into the U.S. as an ornamental from Japan in the 1930s.

This plant is often confused with Lygodium microphyllum, aka Old World Climbing Fern, which is just as bad as this one. The way to tell them apart is by the differing leaf characteristics. The Japanese climbing fern has leaves that are arranged opposite on the vine and are finely divided and lacy.

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I know that this fern has a bit of world domination personality. Having said that,
let me tell you a story:
In 1964 my father, who was a plant hobbyist of some note here in So Calif., created a large intertwined heart form, planted this fern in the center, and trained it onto the form. He called it "My four sweethearts and I." In late Sept. of that year, when the LA International Fern Society had their yearly show, this creation took best of show over all the wonderful plants there. I still have this same plant. I would never plant this one in the ground for good reason, but controlled in a pot she is wonderful.

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This is a very interesting plant. It has two different types of leaves. In our garden, it is mostly in shade until late afternoon. It will die to the ground in winter and return in spring.

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