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Nephthytis, arrowhead vine

Syngonium podophyllum -- Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants

Syngonium podophyllum

Non-Native to Florida

arrowhead vine

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For control information, see Integrated Management of Nonnative Plants in Natural Areas of Florida (SP 242)
by K. A. Langeland, J. A. Ferrell, B. Sellers, G. E. MacDonald, and R. K. Stocker

Date of introduction to Florida: 1979

(from Strangers in Paradise, Impact and Management of Nonindigenous Species in Florida, Chapter 2: Florida’s Invasion by Nonindigenous Plants: History, Screening, and Regulation, by D.R. Gordon and K.P. Thomas, pp. 21-37. Island Press, Washington, DC, 1997.)

    Syngonium podophyllum is found growing in disturbed sites in Alachua County and the central and southern peninsula of Florida (Wunderlin, 2003). It is native to Central America but escaped cultivation. Arrowhead vines blooms from spring to fall.

    Appearance: High climbing, epiphytic vine, stems 1-1.5 cm (0.5 in) thick; sap milky.

    Leaves: Alternate; petioles 10 to 60 cm (4–23 in) long; young leaves heart-shaped, to oblong, to ovate, to triangu-lar, to hastate; mature leaves very deeply lobed (appearing divided), 5- to 11-lobed.

    Flowers: In a fleshy spathe, often several spathes clus-tered together; flowers on a round column contained in the spathe; male and female flowers separate; male flowers on upper column and female flowers below; both green.

    Fruit: Fruiting spathe turns bright red; fruit a berry.

    Ecological threat: FLEPPC Category I – Invasive exotics that are altering native plant communities by displacing native species, changing community structures or ecological functions, or hybridizing with natives.

    *Can cause mild to severe poisoning if ingested.

    Distribution: C, SW, SE

    Text from Invasive and Non-Native Plants You Should Know, Recognition Cards, by A. Richard and V. Ramey, 2007. UF/IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, Publ. No. SP 431.

    Download the Recognition Card of Syngonium podophyllum (PDF 780 KB).

     

    Read the EDIS publication Wildland Weeds: Arrowhead Vine, Syngonium podophyllum by E. C. Morgan, W. A. Overholt and K. A. Langeland.

    See the UF/IFAS Assessment, which lists plants according to their invasive status in Florida.

    arrowhead vine View the herbarium specimen image of the University of Florida Herbarium Digital Imaging Projects.